held her peace again; for she did not want to scold Elsie to death.  She merely complained at times to Freneli that she didn’t know what to do.  If she scolded, Elsie was capable of doing something foolish; but if she let things go and something really did happen, then she would get the blame for everything, and people would ask why hadn’t she done something in time.  Of Uli she couldn’t complain; he was acting very sensibly, and she even thought the whole thing was disagreeable to him.  And she would be sorry to send him off packing without notice, before they had more grounds of complaint; for, if she did, Joggeli would be the first to accuse her of dismissing through groundless anxiety the best servant they had ever had.  But that was the way he always did—­when she wanted him to speak he would keep still, and when she wanted him to keep still he would always meddle.  She, Freneli, should keep her eyes open, and if she saw anything out of the way she was to tell her.  But from Freneli the old woman got little comfort; she acted as if the whole affair were none of her business.  Elsie could not refrain from talking to Freneli about Uli—­how fine and handsome he was, and how she wouldn’t take her oath that she wouldn’t marry him yet; if her people angered her by refusing to do what she wanted, they’d just see what she’d do.  She wouldn’t take long to think about it, and she’d only have to say the word and Uli would go and have the banns published.  Then, when Freneli would say little to all this, Elsie would accuse her of being jealous.  Or when Freneli would talk to her and tell her not to make a fool of Uli, whom she didn’t really want, or would tell her not to grieve her parents in this way, Elsie would accuse her of wanting Uli herself and of trying to entice her away from him in order to climb up in the world; but Uli wouldn’t take such a penniless pauper as she—­he was too shrewd for that.  She needn’t imagine that she could get a husband so easily; the poorest servant would think twice before he’d take a poor girl, and twice again before he’d take a bastard—­that was the greatest disgrace there was.

[Illustration:  THE BATH BENJAMIN VAUTIER]

Although Freneli felt such speeches deeply she would give no sign of it, would neither weep nor scold, but say at most, “Elsie, that you’re not a bastard too isn’t your fault; and that you haven’t one by now isn’t your fault either.”

The hardest thing for Freneli was to regulate her conduct toward Uli.  The more Elsie’s money went to his head, the more he felt himself drawn to Freneli; he could not bear to have her give him short answers or to seem angry with him, and tried in every way to pacify her and win her favor.  He often fled from Elsie, and never sought her out; he never fled from Freneli, but often looked for her; while Freneli fled from him and Elsie ran after him.  Freneli wanted to be short and dry with Uli, and still, with the best intentions, she often could not but be