Honest, rough Faller could not say another word, but twirled his soldierly moustaches. Lenz was an object of more respect and attention at the wedding, than even the young couple, and he was glad when it was time to go to church. The Choral Society sang beautifully in church, but the two principal voices were wanting--that of Lenz and also of Faller. Nearly the whole village, above all, the women and girls, were present at the wedding; those that were married were glad to hear again the exhortation to the newly wedded pair, and the unmarried wished to take a lesson how to behave when it came to their turn, which they fervently hoped might be soon. The women cried, and the girls glanced curiously round the church, and if Lenz had looked up, he would have met many eyes fixed on him. After the ceremony was over Lenz left them, and went alone towards his home. At the hedge of the churchyard he was greeted by Kathrine, standing with a handsome young man, who, from his costume, seemed to be the son of a farmer in the neighbouring valley. She coloured as Lenz looked earnestly at her, and passed on. He next took off his hat in courteous greeting. The Doctor's two eldest daughters were walking on the road, and they wore neat laced boots, which their short dresses in the wet weather fully displayed. "We really thought that you had gone on a journey," said Bertha, the boldest of the two. "No; I have never left home," answered Lenz. "Nor we either," continued Bertha. Lenz did not say a word. "Are you engaged in some new great work?" asked Amanda. "Both in new and old; in our calling work never comes to an end." "Is it not very fatiguing, such incessant labour?" asked Amanda again. "Oh! no; I don't know what I should do without it." "Yes, indeed, clockmakers," said Bertha, playfully, "are like their own clocks, they always want winding up." "And you are like the key that winds them;" answered Lenz, quickly. He would have liked to have made some other reply, but could not think of one. "Quite right, Herr Lenz, to pay her back in her own coin," said Amanda; "but our paths separate here, so now we must say good-bye." "Perhaps Herr Lenz is going our way," said Bertha; "perhaps you are going to see Pilgrim?" Lenz's heart beat; he wished to say yes, and that he meant to go to Pilgrim's; but involuntarily he said in a shy voice, "No, I am going home--Adieu!" "Adieu!" Lenz went up the hill breathing hard: he thought of turning back, and who knows what might come of it! he could still overtake them; but while thinking thus, he went on and on, and at last reached his own door, his heart still beating restlessly, and he felt as if he were taking refuge in his own house. Refuge! from what? He cannot say; but he was very restless all this day--he had never felt so uneasy or out of sorts.