--You understand, maiden; or, no!
you do not understand: I understand it only partly, mind. False, I
say----'
'False--not true: go on, dear aunty,' said Margarita, catching the word.
'I believe she knows as much as I do!' ejaculated Aunt Lisbeth; 'such are
girls nowadays. When I was young-oh! for a maiden to know anything
then--oh! it was general reprobation. No one thought of confessing it. We
blushed and held down our eyes at the very idea. Well, the Electress! she
was--you must guess. So she called for her caudle at eleven o'clock at
night. What do you think that was? Well, there was spirit in it: not to
say nutmeg, and lemon, and peach kernels. She wanted me to sit with her,
but I begged my mistress to keep me from the naughty woman: and no friend
of Hilda of Bayern was Bertha of Bohmen, you may be sure. Oh! the things
she talked while she was drinking her caudle.
Isentrude sat with her,'and said it was fearful!--beyond blasphemy! and
that she looked like a Bible witch, sitting up drinking and swearing and
glaring in her nightclothes and nightcap.
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