Albert speak
again: "I have already spoken to him," he said; "as a proof of it, look
at the two goblets we have emptied together."

"Well," continued the old woman, "but you would not leave his house
without wishing him farewell?"

"No, I ought not certainly, as he desired me to wait for him in the
castle," replied the young man.

"Aye, why would you go away in such a hurry, then?" she said, and
forced him back into the room; "do you call that manners? My master
would wonder, indeed, to think what kind of guest he had entertained.
Whoever comes here by day," she added, with a searching look at Bertha,
"whoever comes by broad daylight, possesses a clear conscience, and
need not _slip away like a thief in the night._"

Bertha blushed, and pressed the hand of her lover, who could not
refrain from smiling, when he thought of the old woman's mistaken
notion respecting the nocturnal visitor, and remarked the reproachful
glance which she threw at her child.

"Yes, yes, as I said," she continued, "you have no occasion to steal
away like a thief in the night. It had been better, perhaps, had you
come sooner. The proverb says, 'judge for yourself, to doubt is
dangerous, and he who seeks peace and quiet, let him remain with his
cow!'--but I say nothing."

"Well, then," said Bertha, "you see he remains here; your proverbs are
misplaced. You know, yourself, they do not always agree with the
subject."

"Really? but they sometimes hit the right nail upon the head, however
disagreeable it may be to the hearer. But repentance and good advice
come too late after the evil has happened. I know well enough, that
ingratitude is the wages of the world, and I can be silent! he who
seeks peace and quiet, let him keep his eyes open, listen, and be
silent."

"Come then, be silent," said Bertha, somewhat displeased; "at any rate
it will be wise of you not to let my father remark that you know Albert
von Sturmfeder; it were not unlikely he might suppose he is come to
Lichtenstein for our sakes alone."

Good and ill humour strove for the mastery in old Rosel's breast. She
was, on the one hand, flattered to be admitted again into her lady's
confidence, by being requested to keep silence before her master, but,
on the other, she still felt annoyed that her young mistress confided
so little of her heart to her. She kept muttering a few indistinct
words to herself, as she put the chairs in their places against the
wall, and took the goblets