The heroic deeds of Pumpelhagen were also confined to his department. He had at first attempted them merely against the farm-boys, and that in a quiet way, for if Habermann had known of it, the renown which he achieved upon their shoulders would have been sadly interfered with; now, however, as all went well, he grew bolder, and in an evil hour ventured to strike a stable-boy, and the rascal was so insolent as to forget all the respect due to his station, and gave him such a thrashing, in broad day-light, and Palm Sunday at that, that Marie Möller must spend the whole Sunday afternoon cooling his shoulder-blades. And the most disagreeable of all was that with every cold bandage that Marie Möller laid on his shoulders she sent a sting to his conscience, while she reminded him of all her kind deeds, and inquired about his plans and prospects, trustfully assuring him that she believed in his affection and would faithfully share his future. It was very annoying, because, for his part, he believed more in his appetite for ham and sausage than in his affection, and he preferred keeping his prospects to himself. He stammered out something which she did not or would not fully comprehend, and the cooler his blisters became the cooler became their relations; he tried to change the subject, she was not disposed to do so; she still applied the wet cloths, but with a less and less gentle hand. "Triddelsitz," said she finally, "what am I to think of you?" With that, she came round from her position behind him, and placed herself before his face, with arms akimbo. "Mariken," said he, alarmed and confused, "what do you mean?" "What do I mean? shall I, speak out more clearly?" exclaimed she, and the sweet, tender expression was quite gone from her eyes. "Am I a person to be made a fool of?" Then she went back again, and slapped a cold bandage on his shoulders, with emphasis. "Oh! Thunder!" cried Fritz, "that hurts!" "So? It hurts, does it? Do you think it doesn't hurt me, to find that a man for whom I have done so much means to betray me?" "Mariken, I ask you, what do you mean?" "What do I mean? I mean"--with another emphatic bandage--"will you tell me what to think of you?" "Thunder and lightning! That burns like fire!" "I hope it does! I should think your conscience would burn you, deceiving a poor girl with all sorts of promises and prospects and then backing out in this way!" "Good heavens, Marie, I am only nineteen years old." "Well, what then?" "I must serve somewhere else for a time, and then----" "Well, and then?" with another wet cloth on his shoulders. "Good heavens! You might be a little more careful, Marie." "_You_ might be a little more careful! Well, what then?" "Then, I must get me a farm; and all that will take ten years or more." "Well, and then?" pursued Marie Möller, with truly infamous persistency. "And then," stammered Fritz finally, in his distress, "by that time, you will be too old for me."