my
heart allows me. It is profane, and if you speak longer of religion in
this strain I shall leave the room."

At this moment the mother entered. "The festival has commenced," said
she; "I have been forced to give my brightest silver skilling. Does Mr.
Thostrup know the old custom which is observed here in the country, when
beer is brewed for the mowing-feast?"

A piercing cry, as from a horde of savages, at this moment reached the
ears of the party.

The friends descended.

In the middle of the brew-house stood a tub, around which danced all the
female servants of the estate, from the dairymaids down to the girl
who tended the swine; their iron-bound wooden shoes dashed against the
uneven flag-stones. The greater number of the dancers were without their
jackets, but with their long chemise-sleeves and narrow bodices. Some
screamed, others laughed, the whole was blended together in a howl,
whilst they danced hand in hand around the tub in which the beer should
be brewed. The brewing-maid now flung into it the silver skilling, upon
which the girls, like wild Maenades, tore off each other's caps, and
with bacchanalian wildness whirled round the tub. By this means
should the beer become stronger, and work more intoxicatingly at the
approaching mowing-feast.

Among the girls, one especially distinguished herself by her Strong
frame of body, and her long black hair, which, now that her cap was torn
off, hung in disorder over her red face. The dark eyebrows were grown
together. All seemed to rage most violently within her, and in truth she
assumed something wild, nay almost brutal. Both arms she raised high in
the air, and with outstretched fingers she whirled around.

"That is disgusting!" whispered Otto: "they all look like crazy people."

Wilhelm laughed at it. The wild merriment was lost in a joyous burst of
laughter. The girl with the grown-together eyebrows let fall her arms;
but still there lay in her glance that wild expression, which the loose
hair and uncovered shoulders made still more striking. Either one of the
others had had the misfortune to scratch her lip, or else she herself
had bitten it in bacchanalian wildness until it bled: she accidentally
glanced toward the open door where stood the friends. Otto's countenance
became clouded, as was ever the case when anything unpleasant affected
him. She seemed to guess his thoughts, and laughed aloud. Otto stepped
aside; it was as though he in anticipation f