What has being young to do with it? I asked. And then you
said that my other two sweethearts came first, and so they ought to have
the preference. And then you laughed again, and didn't seem to believe
that I was in earnest. A short time afterward my lord the Count changed
_his_ mind, and said he wouldn't have a married bailiff. And then a
little more time passed, and it was too late. Young Joseph made her an
offer, and your mother begged her so hard to take him, that she
consented. Ah well, that marriage ought never to have been," and Braesig
looked down gravely. After a moment's silence he went on--"When I saw
the twins I felt drawn to them, and thought that they might have been my
own, and I almost wished that the old woman, old Joseph, and young
Joseph were in their graves. It was indeed a happy day for the old
Jesuits when your sister brought her loving heart and cheerful nature
into their house, if it had been any one else there would have been
murder done long ago."
While they were talking they had left the village behind them, and were
now beside the large garden. Suddenly Hawermann exclaimed: "Look there,
the two old people are on the top of the hill yonder." "Yes," said
Braesig with a derisive chuckle, "there they are, the hypocritical old
Jesuits, standing in their hiding-place." "Hiding-place?" asked
Hawermann, astonished. "Up there on the hill?" "Even so, Charles, the
old creatures can trust no one, not even their own children, and when
they want to say anything to each other that they can't explain by their
usual signs, they always go to the very top of the hill where they can
see that there are no eavesdroppers, and shout their secrets in one
another's ears.
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