"But you just
wait; I'll make war on you, for discussing me so behind my back. Nice
customers you are! And if you do that to me any more, I'll pay you
back; just wait. We'll talk about you behind your backs, too."
Johannes answered, and Freneli met him again with well-chosen playful
words. When she had gone out for a moment, the old mistress said, "Uli,
you've got an amazingly well-mannered wife; she can talk well enough to
suit a manor-house, and the best of it is that she understands her work
just as well; you don't always find the two together. Look out for her;
you'll never get her match again!" Then Uli too began to sing her
praises with tears in his eyes, until Freneli came back.
As the conversation suddenly halted at her entrance, she looked
roguishly at them all in turn, and said, "There you've been talking
about me again behind my back and my left ear tingled; you just wait!
Uli, is it nice to begin accusing me that way, when I turn my back for
just a minute?"
"He didn't accuse you," said the old mistress, "just the opposite; but I
told him to look out for you, for he'd never get your match again. Oh,
if men only knew how the second wife often turns out, they'd be more
careful of the first! Not that I can complain. My husband I love and
value; I couldn't get a better one, and he allows me all I want; but I
see how it goes elsewhere."
"I was listening hard," answered Johannes; "but you ended up all right.
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