"Well, then I will not keep you waiting any longer, or else dear Frau Dörr might think I have brought a golden slipper or some such thing out of a fairy story. But this is all it is."
And therewith he gave Lena a paper bag, from which, unless all signs failed, the fringed ends of some snapping bonbons peeped out.
They proved to be snapping bonbons and the bag was passed around.
"But now we must pull one, Lena. Hold on tight and shut your eyes."
Frau Dörr was delighted when the cracker snapped, and still more so when Lena's forefinger began to bleed. "That doesn't hurt, Lena, I know it doesn't. It is just like a bride who pricks her finger. I used to know one who was so crazy about it, that she kept pricking herself and sucked and sucked, as if it were something wonderful."
Lena blushed. But Frau Dörr did not notice and went on: "And now read the verse, Herr Baron."
And this is what he read:
When two forget themselves for love,
God and the angels rejoice above.
"Heavens," said Frau Dörr, folding her hands. "That is just like something out of a song book. Is the verse always so pious?"
"I hope not," said Botho. "Not always. Come, dear Frau Dörr, let us pull one and see what we shall get out of it."