In old days, people multiplied the number of saints' days for the sake of stopping fights, but the fact is that everybody connected with the legal profession, Herr von Meyern (who _must_ have _something_ to live upon), ought to petition that a peaceable working-day or two might be abolished now and then, so that the number of rows might be increased, and with them the fines and the fees in like ratio. Yet who thinks of such a thing, Venner?" He was quite safe in spouting the greater part of this before Lenette; she had long been accustomed to understanding only a half, a fourth, or an eighth part of what he said; as for the _whole_ Venner, she gave herself no concern about him. When Meyern had taken his departure with frigid politeness, Siebenkæs, with the view of helping to advance him in his wife's good opinion, extolled his whole and undivided love for the entire female sex (though engaged to be married), and more particularly his attachment to that preliminary bride of his, who was now in the condemned cell of the prison; this, however, rather seemed to have the effect of _lowering_ him in her good opinion. "Thou good, kind soul, may you always be as faithful to yourself and to me!" said he, taking her to his heart. But she didn't _know_ that she had been faithful, and said, "to whom should I be _un_faithful?" From this day onwards to Michaelmas Day, which was the day of the borough fair, fortune seems to have led our _pathway_, I mean the reader's and mine, through no very special flower-beds to speak of, but merely along the smooth green turf of an English lawn, one would suppose on purpose that the fair on Michaelmas Day may suddenly arise upon our view as some shining, dazzling town starts up out of a valley. Very little did occur until then; at least, my pen, which only considers itself bound to record incidents of some importance, is not very willing to be troubled to mention that the Venner Meyern dropped in pretty often at the bookbinder's (who lived under the same roof with the Siebenkæses)--he merely came to see whether the 'Liaisons Dangereuses' were bound yet. But that Michaelmas! Truly the world shall remember it. And in fact the very eve of it was a time of such a splendid and exquisite quality that we may venture to give the world some account of it. Let the world _read_ the account of this eve of preparation at all events, and then give its vote. On this eve of the fair all Kuhschnappel (as all other places are at such a time) was turned into a workhouse and house of industry for women; you couldn't have found a woman in the whole town either sitting down, or at peace, or properly dressed. Girls the most given to reading opened no books but needle-books to take needles out, and the only leaves they turned over were paste ones to be put on pies. Scarcely a woman took any dinner; the Michaelmas cakes and the coming enjoyment of them were the sole mainspring of the feminine machinery.