Johann made her repeat this twice, each time in a louder voice; then he nodded. "Thank you, mistress, I know that worn-out soldiers are not welcome customers at a house like yours, but I have ever been a quiet man, given neither to quarrelling nor drinking beyond what is seemly. I only desire a quiet house and such food as there may be, and a flask of the best wine; for it is long since I drank a flagon of good Moselle. And as my money will last me well until I get to Luxembourg, I can afford it. With it I will take, if it pleases you, some cold meat, if you have it, or if not, some cheese and fruit." The landlady, seeing that the wayfarer was able to pay, and was likely to give no trouble, presently placed before him the food he asked for. When he had finished it, he took his seat in the corner of the room, taking the jug of wine, of which he had drunk sparingly, with him. The landlady paid no further attention to him till the day's work was over, and some of the neighbours dropped in, together with three or four persons from other villages on the estate, who had been in Goldstein on business, either to sell their vintage or crops or to arrange for their carriage by boat to Ems. In an hour or two these left, and only three or four of the traders of the village, who were accustomed to use the house as a sort of meeting-place, remained. They chatted for some time on different matters, casting occasionally somewhat suspicious glances at Johann, who was leaning back in his chair as if asleep. The landlady, observing this, said to them: "You need not mind him; he is an old soldier on his way back to Luxembourg. He is a very civil-spoken man, but he is almost as deaf as a post. I had almost to scream into his ear to make him understand me, and even if he were awake he would not hear a single word you say. I suppose that you have heard that Bertha Grun and Lisa Hermann will be released from the castle in a few days, and that Gretchen Horwitz and another girl have got to take their places. I hear that Bertha was told that she and Lisa and the other two were to wait on Minna von Waldensturm during alternate weeks." "Yes, I heard it," the other said. "It passes all bearing that damsels should be thus taken against their will and that of their parents. Save for two or three old crones there have been no women in the castle since the baron's wife died, till Minna von Waldensturm was taken there after the sacking of their castle. They say that the baron is determined that she shall marry his son. I suppose he reckons upon young Waldensturm being killed in the wars, and then he can unite Waldensturm with Goldstein without anyone making an objection." "I am sorry for her, for the youth is a lout, and they say as savage and as brutal as his father. We all know that the baron's ill-treatment brought his wife to her grave, and I should say that his son's wife would not fare much better."