"That's exactly what I was going to ask you," retorted Blasi, "What have you got to laugh about?" "Answer me, and I'll answer you, my lad." "All right; it's nothing to be ashamed of. She'll have me." "Good heavens!" exclaimed Judith "Who? Which one?" Blasi did not turn round, but pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at the house he had just left. "That one," he said. Judith shouted with laughter. "Will she have you all three?" she said; "first Dietrich, then Jost, and now you." "I don't see the joke," said Blasi crossly. "Dietrich has run away; she avoids Jost as if he were a nettle, and who else is there? Who is there for her to call upon if she wants help, hey?" Judith was still snickering over the news. "Now it's your turn," said Blasi, "tell me what it is that you're so pleased about." "It is very much like yours, Blasi; come a little nearer," and she whispered in his ear, "I have him." "Mercy on us!" cried Blasi. "You will be as rich as a Jew, for the cattle-dealer is worth more than half the people in Fohrensee, all put together." "I'm not talking about the cattle-dealer." "Pshaw! whom are you talking about then?" "Somebody else, and I have him in such a fashion that he will not forget it in a hurry, I tell you!" As she spoke, Judith made a gesture with her hands as if she were choking some one, who certainly would not escape alive from her clutches. Blasi shook his head and walked on in silence. But in his inmost mind he thought, "I can't make anything out of her; her head is all in a buzz. But she's only a woman." Soon after, they reached the turf-hut, and there they separated. Veronica was not far off; and as she came up Blasi joined her, and they walked quickly along over the crisp, frozen ground. She was more silent than usual, and seemed sunk in thought. In the middle of the wood she stopped suddenly and said, "Blasi will you do me a great favor?" "I will do anything in the world for you, Veronica," was the prompt reply, "I will jump into the big pond over there, and never come out again, if you want me to." "You couldn't get in now; it is frozen hard," said the girl, laughing. "I don't want you to do that, but something very different. Do you think you could find out what Jost knows about Dietrich? Perhaps he has told Jost where he is, and where a letter would reach him." "Yes, but look here, Veronica, are you still thinking about him, all this time?" asked poor Blasi, quite taken aback.