Madam had acquireed a foreign name by her marriagewith a learned man.She had been baptized Mette after arich aunt，whose heir she was to have been.She had gotthe name，but not the inheritance.Herr Gabriel rebaptizedMette as Meta，the Latin word for measure.At the time ofher wedding，all her clothes，woolen and linen，weremarked with the letters M.G.，Meta Gabriel;but youngMadsen，who was a witty boy，interpreted the letters M.G.to be a mark meaning"most good，"and he added abig guestion mark in ink，on the tablecloths，the towels，and the sheets.
"Don't you like Madam?asked Peer，when youngMadsen made him privately acquainted with this joke."She is so kind，and Herr Gabriel is so learned."
"She is a bag of lies!"said young Madsen;"andHerr Gabriel is a scoundrel.If I were only a corporal，and he a recruit，oh，how I would discipline him!"And abloodthirsty expression came to young Madsen's face;hislips grew narrower than usual，and his whole face seemedone great freckle.
There were terrible words to hear，and they gavePeer a shock;yet young Madsen had the clearest right tothink that way.It was a cruel thing on the part of parentsand teachers that a fellow had to waste his best time，de-lightful youth，on learning grammar，names，and dates，which nobody cares anything about，instead of enjoyinghis liberty relaxing，and wandering about with a gun overhis shoulder like a good hunter."No，one has to be shutin and sit on a bench and look sleepily at a book;HerrGabriel wants that.And then one is called lazy and getsthe mark'passable';yes，one's parents get letters aboutit;that's why Herr Gabriel is a scoundrel."
"He gives lickings，too，"added little Primus，whoagreed with young Madsen.This was not very pleasant forPeer to hear.But Peer got no lickings;he was too grown-up，as Madam had said.He was not called lazy，either，for that he was not.He had his lessons alone.He wassoon well ahead of Madsen and Primus.
"He has ability!"said Herr Gabriel.
"And one can see that he has been to dancingschool!"said Madam.
"We must have him in our dramatic club，"saidthe pharmacist，who lived more for the town's privatetheater than for his pharmacy.Malicious people appliedto him the old stale joke that he must have been bittenby a mad actor，for he was completely insane about thetheater.
"The young student was born for a lover，"said thepharmacist."In a couple of years he could be Romeo;andI believe that if he were well made up，and we put a littlemustache on him，he could very well appear this winter."
The pharmacist's daughter-"great dramatic talent，"said the father;"true beauty，"said the mother-was to beJuliet;Madam Gabriel had to be the nurse，and the phar-macist，who was both director and stage manager，wouldtake the role of the apothecary，which was small but ofgreat importance.Everything depended on Herr Gabriel'spermission for Peer to play Romeo.This had to be workedthrough Madam Gabriel;one had to know how to win herover-and this the pharmacist knew.
"You were born to be the nurse，"he said，andthought that he was flattering her exceedingly."That is ac-tually the most important part in the play，"he continued."It is the comedy role;without it，the play would be toosad to sit through.No one but you，Madam Gabriel，hasthe quickness and life that should sparkle here."
All very trne，she agreed，but her husband wouldsurely never permit the young student to contribute whatev-er time would be required to play the part of Romeo.Shepromised，however，to"pump"him，as she called it.Thepharmacist immediately began to study his part，and espe-cially to think about his make-up.He wanted to look al-most like a skeleton，a poor，miserable fellow，and yet aclever man-a rather difficult problem.But Madam Gabrielhad a much harder one in"pumping "her husband to givehis permission.He could not，he said，answer for it toPeer's guardians，who paid for his schooling and board，ifhe permitted the young man to play in tragedy.We cannotconceal the fact，however，that Peer had the greatest desireto do it."But it won't work，"he said.
"It's working，"said Madam;"only let me keep onpumping."She would have given him punch，but HerrGabriel did not like to drink it.Married people are oftendifferent;this is said without any offense to Madam.
"One glass and no more，"she thought."It elevatesthe mind and makes one happy，and that's what we oughtto be-it is our Lord's with us."