two at night
They had been led to take this improper step by fear of her parents , who , had the attachment been discovered , would , it was thought , have separated them for ever . Herr Lehfeldt 's sternness , no less than his superior position , seemed an invincible obstacle , and the good mother , although doting upon her only daughter , was led by the very intensity of her affection to form ambitious hopes of her daughter 's future . It was barely possible that some turn in events might one day yield an opening for their consent ; but meanwhile prudence dictated secrecy , in order to avert the most pressing danger , that of separation . And so the pretty Lieschen , with feminine instinct of ruse , had affected to treat her lover with indifference ; and to compensate him and herself for this restraint , she had been in the habit of escaping from home once or twice a week , and spending a delicious hour or two at night in the company of her lover and his mother . Kerkel and his mother lived in a cottage a little way outside the town . Lehfeldt 's shop stood not many yards from the archway . Now , as in Nuremberg no one was abroad after ten o'clock , except a few loungers at the cafes and beer-houses , and these were only to be met inside the town , not outside it , Lieschen ran extremely little risk of being observed in her rapid transit from her father 's to her lover 's house .