xamination Lina and Godfrey have been on their old
terms with each other once more, while Mina and Rudolph have never made
friends again; indeed I may say that she has never so much as looked at
him since the day he preached in Rahnstaedt." "Ah, Mrs. Nuessler," said
Braesig, "love shows itself in most unexpected ways. Sometimes the giving
of a bunch of flowers is a sign of it, or even a mere 'good-morning'
accompanied by a shake of the hand. Sometimes it is shown by two people
stooping at the same moment to pick up a ball of cotton that one of them
has dropped, when all that the looker-on sees is that they knocked their
heads together in trying which could pick it up first. But gradually the
signs become more apparent. The girl blushes now and then, and the man
watches whatever she does; or the girl takes the man into the larder,
and gives him sausages, or cold tongue, or pig's cheek, and the man
begins to wear a blue or a red necktie; but the surest sign of all is
when they go out on a summer-evening for a walk in the moonlight, and
you hear them sigh without any cause. Now, has anything of that kind
been going on with the little round-heads?" "No, I can't say that I've
noticed them doing that, Braesig. They used to go to the cold meat-larder
sometimes it's true, but I soon put an end to that; I wasn't going to
stand that sort of thing; and as for blushing, I didn't notice them
doing that either, though of course I've seen that their eyes are often
red with crying." "Well," said Braesig, "there must have been a reason
for that--I'll tell you what, Mrs. Nuessler, you just leave the whole
management of the affair in my hands, for I know how to arrange such
matters. I soon put an end to that sort of nonsense in Fred Triddelfitz.
I'm an old hunter, and I'll ferret the matter out for you, but you must
tell me where they generally meet." "Here, Braesig, here in this arbor.
My girls sit here in the afternoon with their work, and then the other
two join them. I never thought any harm of it." "All right!" said
Braesig, going out of the arbor, and looking about him. He examined a
large cherry-tree carefully which was growing close by, and seeing that
it was thickly covered with leaves he looked quite satisfied. "That'll
do," he said, "what can be done, shall be done." "Goodness, gracious
me!" said Mrs. Nuessler, "I wonder what will happen this afternoon! It's
very disagreeable. Kurz is coming at coffee-time, and he is desperately