Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-05-31
" oh she answered with a laugh,

oh, she answered with q laugh,
through the kcyhole,' and at the same
time she showed her little pearly teeth,
till my head was completely turned.
Then She continued: Il have left my
situation and AN going back wherel
came from, and rs | was passing by
your hoa., J saw you sitting here,
and came in.
"'Nou arr not offended, are you! l
only came Ia bid you farewell
TO bid me farewell! | cried,
graSping her hand. That shall never
be. You are mine, and mine you shall
always be. And ] will take care that
you do not escape me through the key
hole Having spoken thus, ! sprang
toward the door aud pushed IA tightly
rolled wad Of newspaper into the key
hole
Then she was imprisoned"
".And what then, what thcnl' l
urged. But the old man prickcd up his
ears, hastily seized the brandy bottle
and pushed il into his pocket. Hush,
she is coming.' he said apprehensively.
The door opened and in pushed the
broad form OF Mrs. Xapf. She threw
a heavy bundle Of washing on the
floor, making the house tremble, and
lifted her nose smiling the air. 1T
smells of cooking here" she said.
1T was only a pair of poor little
gold hammers" explained the master
of the house. timidly.
Indeed continued the woman
while am out ut work and drudg-
ing Till the blood bursts from under
my nails, the old good for nothing sits
at home idle. cooking birds aud living
like = prince, OF course. everything
is eaten up but the bones. Oh. you
glutton! Aud you," turning 10 me,
won are ms bad MS be is. Instead Of
porting over your school books, you
are idling with thc old lazy bones and
listening To his lying stories. No good
will eyer come Of you; remembers now
what ! say
Wife" said the old man pacifying.
u, ''Src here, what lac has brought
us" And with these words he handed
her the little sum Of money which
had given him as a birthday present.
Then Mrs. Zapf grew more mild.
She muttercd something that sounded
like Thank you kindly" Then she
took "A market basket and went "a to
make some purchases for the house.
hold with the money
And now you will tell me the end
of the story" ! begged, when the dis.
agreeable woman had gone.
That is all there is" said old Zapi.
But what became Of the nightmare
you imprisonedi Did she afterward
get away from your
Mr.. Zapf shook his head sadly.
NO" he said, ''she never has gone
away from me. she stayed with me,
and always will stay with me till | am
in my grave. You have just seen and
heard my nightmare
/ remained silent and old Zapf too
relapsed into silence. At last | cleared
my throat and said:
do you know, neighbor, what !
would have done in your place!
should have taken the wadding out oil
the keyhole again"
'Oh, you old saucebox!' said Mr..
Zapf. II was rs clever as you are,
and only fourteen days after ! i'm
prisoned the nightmare, but il was OF
no use. And besides, later on, after
we were married, | began TO doubt
whether my wife really was a night,
mare. For then She actually brough,
with her her certificate OF baptism,
and a true ghost has neither baptismaI
certificate nor any other papers. And
besides, some Of her relatives, as long
as | was prospered, came TO visit mt
off and on. In short. | doubt whether
she can go in and out through key.
holes. But at any rate it is well td
take p~recaution. and if, as it is to bt
hoped, / die before my wife, l shall
ask st. Peter for the privilege Of stop
ping up the keyhole Of the heavenly
gate. Perhaps that will be Of some
avail, aud | shall be able to enjoy eter
nal bliss without my nightmare
Translated for "Short Stories" from
the German Of Rudolph Baumbach by
A.. N.ti., u..l,.n nn1o