cried Bräsig.--"Let it, do you say?" exclaimed Mrs. Nüssler, "then I don't agree with you. Joseph isn't of a nature to be anxious about anything. He wouldn't care if all the maids in the house were to fall in love, throw up their places and marry; while I--good gracious!--I have my hands full in trying to keep everything straight, and in holding my eyes open to see what they want to hide from me, for I know that a good deal goes on behind my back that ought not to be."--"But why not consult me?" asked Bräsig.--"_You_," said Mrs. Nüssler smiling, "you don't understand that kind of thing."--"What!" cried Bräsig. "_I_ not understand, and yet I was once engaged to three women ...."--He got no further, for Mrs. Nüssler's face lengthened as much as his own had done a short time before, and she looked at him so enquiringly, that he swallowed his glass of kümmel at a single gulp to hide his embarrassment--"It's a silly affair altogether," he said after a pause, "and it's all young Joseph's fault."--"Mine, Bräsig! What had I to do with it?"--"What? I'll tell you. You let the crown-prince eat up your breakfast before your very eyes; you allow two divinity students to come and live in your house, and then you don't know how to get out of the scrape you've got yourself into. I--I give in--about the little round-heads, and the devil take the students! I'll watch the duellist; do you keep your eye on the Methodist, for he's the worst of the two."--"That's all that can be done," said Mrs. Nüssler, getting up from her chair. The two divinity students took possession of their new quarters at Michaelmas, and at the same time Frank went to the agricultural college at Eldena. As Frank walked down the path outside the parsonage garden for the last time, a lovely face peeped through the hedge at him, from the same place where Fred had disposed of the bread and beer. When Louisa went into the parlour that evening, Mrs. Behrens took the tall handsome girl upon her knee, kissed her, and pressed her to her heart.--Women never can let well alone! FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: _Translator's note_. Stemhagen, properly Stavenhagen, Reuter's birth-place.] [Footnote 2: _Translator's note_. The feudal-system was kept up longer in Mecklenburg than elsewhere, the peasantry belonged to the estate, and always continued to work on it. A Mecklenburg squire often beat his labourers when he was angry with them.] [Footnote 3: _Translator's note_. In Mecklenburg the cows are always milked in the fields.] [Footnote 4: _Translator's note_. The Kammer is the chief government office in Mecklenburg, and Mr. von Rambow was a member of it.] [Footnote 5: A mortgage or lien.] [Footnote 6: _Translator's note_. "ing" is used instead of "chen" as a diminutive in Mecklenburg.] [Footnote 7: _Translator's note_. I have changed Thou and You into Christian name, &c., as it sounds better in English.] [Footnote 8: _Translator's note_. Daring the spring cleaning.]