"Nobody knows about it yet, except Wenck, unless he spoke to Brother Thorn."
"Oh, Frederick, what are you thinking?"
"I am thinking"—he paused and looked fixedly at his wife—"I am thinking that I have been beside myself, Anna—crazy, out and out, and this thing can't stand."
"Husband, it was our wish to learn the will of God concerning this marriage, and we have learned it. The Lord——"
"I will go back to the factory," said Mr. Loretz, turning quickly away from his wife. "I must see if everything is right there before it gets darker." He had caught sight of the tall figure of a woman at the gate when he snatched up his hat so suddenly and interrupted his wife. Then he turned to her again: "Is Elise within?"
"No, husband: she went to the garden for twigs this afternoon."
"She had not heard?"
"No. It is Sister Benigna that is coming. Must you go back?" She poured another glass of water for her husband, and walked down the steps with him; and coming so, out from the shade into the sunlight, Sister Benigna was startled by their faces as though she had seen two ghosts.
Two hours later, Mr. Loretz again turned his steps homeward, and Mr. Wenck, the minister, walked with him as far as the gate. They had met accidentally upon the sidewalk, and Mr. Loretz must of necessity make some allusion to the letter he had received from the minister that day acquainting him with the allotment which had made of him so hopeless a mourner. The good man hesitated a moment before making response: then he took both the hands of Loretz in his, and said in a deep, tender voice, "Brother, the wound smarts."
"I cannot bear it!" cried Loretz. "It is all my doing, and I must have been crazy."