How long, oh, how long, she waited for that joy!"
"Yes, but you cannot stay here now," said John. "You must go with me
this very night."
Barefoot woke up the gravedigger's wife, and sent her to Black Marianne.
Her mind was so wonderfully composed that she remembered to tell the
woman that the flowers, which stood on her window-ledge at the farm,
were to be planted on Black Marianne's grave; and especially that she
was not to forget to put Black Marianne's hymn-book under her head, as
she had always wished.
When at last she had arranged everything, she stood up erect and,
stretching out her arms, said:
"Now everything is done. You must forgive me, good man, that I was
obliged to bring you to a house of sorrow; and forgive me, too, if I am
not now as I should wish to be. I see now that all is well, and that God
has ordered it for the best. But still I shake with fear in every
limb--it is a hard thing to die. You cannot imagine how I have almost
puzzled my brains out about it. But now all is well, and I will be
cheerful--for I am the happiest girl in the world!"
"Yes, you are right.--But come, let us go. Will you ride with me on my
horse?" asked John.
"Yes. Is it the white horse that you had at the wedding at Endringen?"
"To be sure!"
"And, oh, that Farmer Rodel! If he didn't send to Lauterbach the night
before you came and have a white horse brought from there, so as to get
you to come to his house.
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