"Oh, let the strangers come!" she croaked. "They'll have no joy of it. We Brinkmeyers belong to Tannhagen. My husband's father and grandfather, and heaven knows how many before them, have held this farm, and they were all known for sober, industrious folks, who knew what they were about. And my son is just the same, and whoever turns him out from here,"--she raised her clinched fist and shook it at the lovers,--"whoever turns him out from here will be punished for it, and will have as little peace, living and dying, as they have left to me, poor old woman that I am." Involuntarily Johanna recoiled. At the last words she grasped Otto's arm, and while the old woman struck her crutch upon the hall floor and sent shrill menaces after them, she hurried him up the stairs and into the first room that opened upon the corridor, closing the door after them. They heard their grandfather and Aunt Thekla talking in the next apartment; but instead of following them Johanna stood still. "What a terrible reception!" she said, and she repeated in an undertone the old woman's words, "Let the strangers come. They'll have no joy of it!" "Johanna, surely you are not superstitious?" Otto exclaimed. She had gone to the window, and was looking gloomily out into the dripping rain. "No, it is not superstition," she replied; "but it impresses me painfully to hear that old woman give utterance to what I have been thinking all through our drive. I know, Otto, that you will have no joy here. Why this haste? Why not discuss other plans?" "Because there is nothing else to be discussed, dear heart," he replied. "You really must not take my passing moods so seriously." "But when you spoke of being forced to relinquish your calling you were not in a passing mood," Johanna persisted; "you were really unhappy." "You are mistaken," he made reply; "remember, I spoke only of my career. I cannot aver that I have a particular fancy, or calling, as you phrase it, for parade and drill, and you cannot think that I have. I am really rather of grandpapa's opinion, that there is nothing better for a nobleman to do in times of peace than to live upon his own soil and cultivate cabbages." Johanna's eyes grew brighter. "Are you sure? Did I misunderstand you yesterday?" she asked, when Otto had finished. "And you have no distaste for farming, but can be content to live in the country year out, year in----" "If I always have you with me. But you I must have; I cannot live any longer without you!" he cried, clasping her in his arms and kissing her.