"But when I mentioned her daughter's name, she became suddenly alert, looking suspiciously at me from under her thick brows.
"'What do you want with Hannah?' she said. 'She is not at home. But she is very well, she and her brat. Did I tell you she was a trifle weak in the head? In that I lied. She had more sense than most of the foolish geese. Oh, I wish that I might have gone away so, but there are different gifts, and how does the Testament say? Those who are poor in spirit--yes, yes. O thou merciful One!'
"Stopping suddenly, she spread her hands on her knees and let her head fall upon her breast.
"She seemed more and more uncanny to me. It was ghastly there by the bank; the bats were beginning to flit among the low bushes, and the rising wind brought a musty swamp odor. From below came the unceasing music of the clarionets and basses.
"Merely to break the silence, I said, 'There seems to be high festival in the inn down yonder. Is it a feast?'
"She sprang to her feet, again looking distrustfully at me. 'Have you only just heard it? They have piped and fiddled so since noonday, and will go on till midnight. I have stopped my ears, but it is useless. Weddings are not funerals--one knows that very well--but if they knew, if they knew! To be sure they would not have one waltz the less. O thou merciful One!'
"'Whose wedding is it?'
"Spitting violently, she cast a furious look across the pond towards the house from which the sounds arose.
"'Go down there and look at the pair for yourself,' she snarled; 'they suit each other well. He is bad and handsome, and she is stupid and rich. A brewer's daughter, she measures her money by the bushel. But she has reason enough to answer a question correctly, and she did not say no when the parson asked her if she wished the judge's son for a husband.'
"'The judge's son! He?' Now, indeed, I knew the cause of the old woman's fury.