"Was your letter an insulting one?"
"I don't wish to advertise its contents."
"Very good. But for all that you may as well lie down. The ways of the baron are incalculable. Even when he is angry he knows what he is about."
"Then we'll wait for him till morning."
"Meanwhile repose in peace. My humble dwelling is not very luxurious, but let your honour imagine that it is a hunting hut in the forest."
"But where then will your reverence sleep?"
"I'll go out to the bee-house. I can sleep there excellently well, I have a couch of linden leaves."
"Nay, but I also love to sleep on linden leaves, covered with my bunda.[44] I'll lie there to-night. I am accustomed to sleeping in the open air at night, and you are an old man"—he forgot that he was one himself—"I could never permit you to sacrifice your comfort for my sake."
[44] A sheepskin mantle.
The clergyman paused for an instant like one who is suddenly struck by a new and odd idea.