Of course the affair made talk for miles around, and people told much
more than there was to tell. There were two parties: one thought the
parents were rightly served, the other thought Uli would get his deserts
with his rich wife. The longer it lasted, and it was over a year now,
the more probable seemed his success; the more the servants submitted
to Uli and ranged themselves on the side of the presumptive son-in-law,
so that the farm took on a more and more prosperous appearance and Uli
became more and more indispensable. Even Joggeli, into whose money-bags
the cash profit flowed, and who could easily figure what twenty
additional cords of fodder and a thousand sheaves of grain meant, choked
down his anger and shut one eye, comforting himself by saying that he
would use Uli as long as possible; and if matters ever got serious, why
then there would still be time enough. Once when Johannes, having heard
the gossip, came along, and cursed and swore and demanded that Uli be
discharged, Joggeli would not hear to it; as long as he lived he would
give orders here, and Johannes would be glad to have Uli if he could get
him; what went on here was none of his business, and if they wanted to
give Elsie to Uli that was none of his business either. He needn't think
he'd inherit everything; for the time being everything that they still
had and that he hadn't wormed out of 'em was theirs; the more Johannes
carried on, the sooner Elsie would have to marry--not that it would have
to be Uli; there were others too.
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