Between the two exclamatory shouts, the echo rang through the woods and the listening girls heard the sharp drip, drip and murmur of the little stream near by, then the voices swung on into the song, strongly interwoven, swelling and lifting; dropping to a soft even staccato and swelling strongly out again.
“Wie scheinst du mir in’s Herz hinein,
Weck’st drinnen lauter Liebeslust,
Dass mir so enge wird die Brust
O Sonnenschein! O Sonn—enschein!”
When the voices ceased there was a faint distant sound of crackling twigs and the echo of talking and laughter.
“Ach Studenten!”
“Irgend ein Männergesangverein.”
“I think we ought to get back, Gertrude. Fräulein said only an hour altogether and it’s church to-night.”
“We’ll get back, Millenium mine—never fear.”