"With my cousin Franz?" asked Axel.
"Is his name Franz? I mean the one who was studying here, with Habermann. I don't know him, he never came to my house. But I liked what I heard about him."
"He is always writing to her," said Häuning.
"No, mother," said Malchen, "you mustn't say that, his letters are always to the Pastor. Our post-boy always brings the Pastor's letters with ours," she explained to Axel.
"That is all the same," said Häuning, "I beat the sack, but I mean it for the donkey."
"This is the first I have heard of the matter," said Axel, looking annoyed.
"Yes!" said Pomuchelskopp, "the whole region knows it. Under the pretence of visiting her father and your sisters, she was always running after him, and when something came between them once, Habermann and the parsonage people soon made it right again."
"No, father," said Salchen, "old Bräsig was the chief canal, he was always fetching and carrying."
"Who is this old Bräsig?" asked Axel, now really irritated.
"He is an old beggar!" cried Häuning.