Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 5.djvu/67

Rh sir? How many forms have you, then?" "In earnest only one," replied I: "in sport as many as you like." "Which sport I will not spoil," smiled she: "go out behind the garden into the meadow until it strikes twelve, then come back; and I shall already have contrived the joke." I did so; but when I was beyond the hedges of the village gardens and was going along the meadows, toward me some country people came by the foot-path, and put me in some embarrassment. I therefore turned aside into a little wood, which crowned an elevation quite near, in order to conceal myself there till the appointed time. Yet what a strange feeling came over me when I entered it; for there appeared before me a neat place, with benches, from every one of which was a pretty view of the country. Here was the village and the steeple, here Drusenheim, and behind it the woody islands of the Rhine: in the opposite direction was the Vosgian mountain range, and at last the minster of Strasburg. These different heaven-bright pictures were set in bushy frames, so that one could see nothing more joyous and pleasing. I sat down upon one of the benches, and noticed on the largest tree an oblong little board with the inscription, "Frederica's Repose." It never occurred to me that I might have come to disturb this repose; for a budding passion has this beauty about it, that, as it is unconscious of its origin, neither can it have any thought of an end, nor, while it feels itself glad and cheerful, have any presentiment that it may also create mischief.

I had scarcely had time to look about me, and was losing myself in sweet reveries, when I heard somebody coming: it was Frederica herself. "George, what are you doing here?" she cried from a distance. "Not George!" cried I, running toward her, "but one who craves your forgiveness a thousand times." She looked at me with astonishment, but soon collected