"Have you ever suffered the _pains of hell_? I have been enduring them since two o'clock in the afternoon of the day before yesterday when I was hidden behind the manure-heap. The weather was lovely, our _foe_ was busy in the clover-field, and your handkerchief was waving in the perfumed air like one of those tumbler pigeons I used to have long ago. I was just about to utter the three _whistles_ we had agreed upon, when that stupid old _ass_ Bräsig came up to me, and talked to me for a _whole hour by the clock_ about the farm. As soon as he was gone I hastened to the ditch, but, _oh agony!_ I was terribly disappointed. The time must have seemed very long to you, for you were gone.--But now, _listen_. As soon as I have finished my curds and cream this evening I shall start for the place of _Randyvoo_ where I shall be hidden _punctually at half-past eight_. This is Saturday, so the parson will be writing his sermon, and the _Dragon_ will be busy, so it is a favourable _opportunity_ for us to meet, and the _alder-bushes_ will screen us from every eye, (Schiller!) Wait awhile--thy rest comes presently (Göthe) in the _arms_ of thy _adorer_, who would _sell_ all that is dear to him, if he could _buy_ what is dear to thee with the proceeds. "Again to meet! again to meet! Till then I fain would sleep; My longings and my thoughts to steep In Lethe's waters dark and deep. My loved one I again shall see, There's rapture in the thought! In the hope to-morrow of thee, My darling, I fear nought. ("The _beginning_ is by myself, the _middle_ part by Schiller, and the _end_ by a certain person called Anonymous who writes a great deal of poetry, but I have altered his lines to suit the present case.) "_In an agony of longing to see you_, Ever Thine." "_No!_" cried little Mrs. Behrens when she had read the letter. "This is really too much of a good thing! Ah, my dear sister, I'm sorry for you! Well, it's high time for _other_ people to interfere, and I think that being his aunt, I am the proper person to do so. And I will do it," she exclaimed aloud, stamping her foot emphatically, "and I should like to see who'd dare to prevent me!" "I promise not to interfere with you, Mrs. Behrens," said Bräsig, coming from behind the bee-hives.