And--even though the powers of hell should fight against me--I have
sworn to be ever
THINE"
Mrs. Behrens was furious when she read this letter. "The * * *! The * *
*! Oh you young rascal! 'When the dragon is asleep!' The wretch means me
by that! But wait a bit! I'll entice _you_ to come to _me,_ and though
the powers of hell won't touch you, if once I get hold of you, I'll give
you such a box on the ear as you never had before!"
About two o'clock next day, Mrs. Behrens rose from her sofa and went
into the garden. The parlor-door creaked and the garden-door banged as
she went out, and the parson, hearing the noise, looked out at the
window to see what it was that took his wife out at that unusual hour,
for as a general rule she did not move from her sofa till three had
struck. He saw her go behind a bush and wave her pocket-handkerchief.
"She's making signs to Hawermann, of course," said he, and then he went
and lay down again. But the fact of the matter is that she only wanted
to show her sister's son how much she longed to get within reach of his
ears. But he did not come, nor yet were his three whistles to be heard.
She returned to her room very crossly, and when her husband asked her at
coffee time to whom she had been making signals in the garden, she was
so overwhelmed with confusion that in spite of being a clergyman's
wife--I am sorry to have to confess it--she told a lie, and said that
she had found it so frightfully close she had been fanning herself a
little.
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