. . ."
"I have done it, I have done it," the old man cried, his eyes glistening
with joy and pride as if he had just accomplished an heroic undertaking.
"I am sorry I called you a goose, and as for your lack of brains, well
you might have a few more, but, and this I can assure you, you are honest
and true and understand your business, and if you will only be as good to
me as I have always been to you. . . ."
"Oh, Herr. . . ." Widow Vorkel interrupted him, and covered her face
with her apron; but he would not let her finish her sentence, so great
was his excitement and continued in a hoarse voice: "You must grant what
I ask, Vorkel, after all these years, and if you will, you must take that
little phial there and inhale its contents, and when you have done so you
must let me ask you some questions."
After much persuasion, the housekeeper yielded to the wishes of her
master, and while she still held the little bottle from which the ether
escaped, to her nose, the Court apothecary questioned her hastily: "Do
you think that I have always acted like a man, diligently striving for
the good of himself and his house?"
Some strange change seemed to take place in Frau Vorkel; she planted her
hands on her hips most disrespectfully--a thing she never did except
perhaps when she was scolding the maid or the butcher boy--and laughed
loud and scornfully: "My, what a question! You may, perhaps, have a
larger stock of useless information than an old woman like me,--though
strictly speaking I cannot be called an old woman yet--but despite my
being stupid and a 'goose,' I have always been wiser than you, and I know
which side one's bread is buttered on.
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