retreat. Gerold did not stir, but on the sly he prepared his fists for the welcome he expected and peeked stealthily through his eyelids, like a cat when it is listening to some suspicious movement. After waiting a minute he smelt something like violets, and immediately a mouse made of a knotted handkerchief, with tremendously long ears and tail, hopped over his face. He threw it down in the road. An icy pebble slipped under his collar and all the way down his back, little by little, from one vertebra to the next. He was sure of it now. It was Gesima! Then he heard her run away with stifled giggles. Extremely annoyed, he kept perfectly silent, and manœuvered with great caution to get into a better position for offensive operations without being seen, and he felt for the ground with his toes.
For a time nothing suspicious happened. Then all of a sudden two soft hands covered his ears and his lips were sealed with a kiss. Raging at this unspeakable insult, he leaped to his feet in a fury. It was not Gesima at all but the strange lady whom he had seen the day before in the stagecoach at Schoenthal.
While he was staring at her dumbfounded, she pressed his cheeks together with her hands so that his lips stuck out like a pair of cushions. Then, instead of telling him to say "Phaff," as he expected, she suddenly kissed him again. Mortified though he was, he did not dare to protest. At that moment the handsome gentleman who was with her appeared on the threshold.
"Come in, Colonel," said the latter, with a charming little smile which reminded one of Dolf. "Dinner has been waiting two hours for your Highness."
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