He dashed the book to the ground furiously, stamped upon it, and cried--
"So, thou wanton, this is thy Bible and thy catechism! Here thou learnest how to make young men mad! Who gave thee this infamous book? Speak! Who gave it to thee?"
So Sidonia looked up timidly, and said, weeping, "It was his Highness Duke Barnim who gave it to her, and told her it was a merry book, and good against low spirits."
Here the Duchess, who had lifted up her hand to give her a box on the ear, let it fall again with a deep sigh when she heard of the old Prince having given her such an infamous book, and lamented loudly, crying--
"Who will free me from this shameless wanton, who makes all the court mad? Truly says Scripture, 'A beautiful woman without discretion is like a circlet of gold upon a swine's head.' Ah! I know that now. But I trust my messengers will soon return whom I have despatched to Stettin and Stramehl, and then I shall get rid of thee, thou wanton, for which God be thanked for evermore."
Then she turned to leave the room with old Ulrich, who only shook his head, but remained as mute as a fish. Doctor Gerschovius, however, stayed behind with Sidonia, in order to exhort her to virtue; but as she only wept and did not seem to hear him, he grew tired, and finally went his way, also with many sighs and uplifting of his hands.
A little after, as Sidonia was howling just out of pure ill-temper, for, in my opinion, nothing ailed her, the little Prince Casimir ran in to look for his mamma--she had gone to hear Sidonia her catechism, they told him.
"His new jerkin hurt him, he wanted her to tie it another way for him; but is it really true, Sidonia, that you do not know your catechism? I can say it quite well. Just come now and hear me say it."
It is probable that her Grace and the doctor had devised this plan in order to shame Sidonia, by showing her how even a little child could repeat it; but she took it angrily, and, calling him over, said, "Yes; come--I will hear you your catechism." And as the little boy came up close beside her, she slung him across her knee, pulled down his hose, and--oh, shame!--whipped his Serene Highness upon his princely _podex_, that it would have melted the heart of a stone. How this shows her cruel and evil disposition--to revenge on the child what she had to bear from the mother. Fie on the maiden!