TONE PREVAILS IN THE MORGENHALDE.

The bridal week, and many other weeks and months have passed away,
about which there is not much to relate. Annele laughed at Lenz almost
every morning, for he could never reconcile himself to the Landlady of
the "Lion" sending up fresh baked white bread to his house from the
village. It was not so much the luxury itself; but that people should
accustom themselves to such indulgences, filled him with astonishment.
In many other things too it was evident, that Annele had wants and
habits which, to Lenz, seemed only suited to holidays and festivals. On
this account she, of course, thought herself very superior to him, and
blamed the inexperience that did not understand how to make life twice
as agreeable at the same cost; and, in truth, everything in the
household was now far better of its kind, without the expense being
increased. From the very same flour, she baked far better bread than
was formerly in the house. But along with her good management she was
often petulant, and during the spring months she was constantly
complaining and saying:--

"Good heavens! the wind up on the hill is so high, I often think it
will blow down the house about our ears."

"But, my dear Annele, I can't prevent it blowing. Besides, that is the
reason the air here is so pure and healthy. All men live to a good old
age here, and you need have no fears about our house; it will endure
for generations yet to come, for it is constructed of entire trunks of
trees which will last for our great-grandchildren."

When the snow melted, and rushing streams filled the usually dry
channels, and Lenz rejoiced in it, she complained that the deafening
and incessant noise prevented her sleeping.

"You often, however, during the winter, used to say how much you
disliked the deathlike stillness up here; that you never heard the
sound of a carriage, or saw either horsemen or pedestrians going
past--now you have noise enough."

Annele looked at Lenz with no very pleasant expression, and went out to
Franzl in the kitchen and wept. Franzl went to Lenz and exhorted him
not to contradict his wife, as it was neither good for her, in her
present situation, nor for himself.

Lenz led a quiet yet busy life, and when he succeeded in producing a
good tone in his instruments, he would say:--

"Just listen, Annele, how pure that note is; it is just like a bell;"
and she answered:--

"What care I? it's no affair of min