" "Ha,
ha, ha!" laughed Braesig. "No, I didn't mean that, I was very much amused
at that. So he wanted to convert you, and perhaps induce you to give up
fishing? He tried his hand at converting again this afternoon, but Lina
ran away from him; however that doesn't matter, it's all right." "With
Lina and Godfrey?" asked Mina anxiously. "And did you hear all that
passed on that occasion too?" "Of course I did. It was for her sake
entirely that I hid myself in that confounded cherry-tree. But now come
here, Moshoo Rudolph. Do you promise never to enter a pulpit again, or
to preach another sermon?" "Never again." "Do you promise to get up at
three o'clock in the morning in summer, and give out the feeds for the
horses?" "Punctually." "Do you promise to learn how to plough, harrow,
mow and bind properly? I mean to bind with a wisp, there's no art in
doing it with a rope." "Yes," said Rudolph. "Do you promise when coming
home from market never to sit in an inn over a punch-bowl while your
carts go on before, so that you are obliged to reel after them?" "I
promise never to do so," said Rudolph. "Do you promise--Mina, do you see
that pretty flower over there, the blue one I mean, will you bring it to
me, I want to smell it--do you promise," he repeated as soon as Mina was
out of hearing, "never to flirt with any of those confounded
farm-girls?" "Oh, Mr. Braesig, do you take me for a scoundrel?" asked
Rudolph, turning away angrily.
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