Just a word to Ulrika,--and the scandal will spread.

Patience, patience!" And somewhat cheered by his own reflections, though still wearing an air of offended dignity, he rowed on, glancing up every now and then to see if the _Eulalie_ had returned, but her place was still empty.
Meanwhile, as he thought and planned, other thoughts and plans were being discussed at a meeting which was held in a little ruined stone hut, situated behind some trees on a dreary hill just outside Bosekop.
It was a miserable place, barren of foliage,--the ground was dry and yellow, and the hut itself looked as if it had been struck by lightning.
The friends, whose taste had led them to select this dilapidated dwelling as a place of conference, were two in number, both women,--one of them no other than the minister's servant, the drear-faced Ulrika.
She was crouched on the earth-floor in an attitude of utter abasement, at the feet of her companion,--an aged dame of tall and imposing appearance, who, standing erect, looked down upon her with an air of mingled contempt and malevolence.

The hut was rather dark, for the roof was not sufficiently destroyed to have the advantage of being open to the sky.

The sunlight fell through holes of different shapes and sizes,--one specially bright patch of radiance illumining the stately form, and strongly marked, though withered features of the elder woman, whose eyes, deeply sunken in her head, glittered with a hawk-like and evil lustre, as they rested on the prostrate figure before her.

When she spoke, her accents were harsh and commanding.
"How long ?" she said, "how long must I wait?
How long must I watch the work of Satan in the land?
The fields are barren and will not bring forth; the curse of bitter poverty is upon us all: and only he, the pagan Gueldmar, prospers and gathers in harvest, while all around him starve! Do I not know the devil's work when I see it,--I, the chosen servant of the Lord ?" And she struck a tall staff she held violently into the ground to emphasize her words.