"So so," said Frau Doerr, holding out the scarcely half-filled basket, whose contents he passed through his fingers, shaking his head. For most of the stalks were thin and there were many broken ones among them. "Now, Susy, listen. You certainly have no eye for asparagus." "Yes I have, too. But I can't work magic." "Oh well, we will not quarrel, Susy; that will not make it any more than it is. But it looks like starvation." "Why, not at all. They are all under ground, and whether they come up to-day or to-morrow, it is all the same. One good shower, such as we had before Whitsunday, and then you will see. And there is going to be rain. The water barrel is already smelling again and the big spider has crept into the corner. But you want to have everything every day; and you can't expect that." Doerr laughed. "Well, tie it all up nicely. And the poor little stalks too. And then you can sell it a little cheaper." "Now, don't talk like that," interrupted his wife, who always got angry over his avarice, but still she pulled his ear, which he always regarded as a sign of affection, and then she went over to the "castle," where she meant to make herself comfortable in the stone paved passageway and tie up her asparagus in bunches. But she had scarcely drawn up to the threshold the stool which always stood ready, than she heard, over in the little house with three windows where Frau Nimptsch lived, a back window pushed up vigorously and a moment later hooked in place. And then she saw Lena with a lilac and white jacket over her woolen skirt and a cap on her ash-blond hair, waving a friendly greeting to her. Frau Doerr returned the greeting with equal warmth and said: "The window always open; that's right, Lena. It is already beginning to grow hot. Some change must be coming." "Yes. And mother already has her headache from the heat, and so I would rather iron in the back room. It is pleasanter here too; at the front we don't see anybody." "That is so," answered Frau Doerr. "I believe I will come over to the window for a bit. I can always work better when I have some one to talk to." "How kind and good you are, Frau Doerr. But right here by the window the sun is so strong." "That will do no harm, Lena. I will bring my market umbrella along, the old thing is covered with patches. But it serves its purpose still." And within five minutes, good Frau Doerr had moved her stool over by the window and sat there as comfortable and self-satisfied as if she were at the regular market. Inside the room Lena had put the ironing board across two chairs close to the window and stood so near it that it would have been easy to reach her with one's hand. Meanwhile the flatiron moved busily back and forth. And Frau Doerr also was diligently choosing and binding up her asparagus and if she paused from her work now and then and glanced into the room, she could see the glow of the little ironing stove from which the fresh coals were taken for the flatiron.