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+Project Gutenberg's Veronica And Other Friends, by Johanna (Heusser) Spyri
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Veronica And Other Friends
+       Two Stories For Children
+
+Author: Johanna (Heusser) Spyri
+
+Release Date: January 7, 2005 [EBook #14627]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VERONICA AND OTHER FRIENDS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the PG Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VERONICA
+And Other Friends
+
+TWO STORIES FOR CHILDREN
+
+_BY THE AUTHOR OF_
+"HEIDI"
+
+_TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF
+JOHANNA SPYRI, BY_
+LOUISE BROOKS
+
+BOSTON
+DE WOLFE, FISKE & CO.
+361 AND 365 WASHINGTON STREET
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Copyright 1886,
+BY LOUISE BROOKS.
+All Rights Reserved.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER
+
+   I. A VISIT TO THE DOCTOR
+
+  II. WITH FRESH COURAGE
+
+ III. NINE YEARS LATER
+
+  IV. ALL AT HOME
+
+   V. UPON UNSAFE PATHS
+
+  VI. LAME SABINA GIVES GOOD ADVICE
+
+ VII. A THUNDER-CLAP
+
+VIII. EACH ONE ACCORDING TO HIS KIND
+
+  IX. MOTHER GERTRUDE GIVES GOOD ADVICE
+
+   X. MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES
+
+  XI. THE MOTTO PROVES TRUE
+
+
+
+
+
+VERONICA.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A VISIT TO THE DOCTOR.
+
+
+It was early in the month of March. The dark blue vault of heaven lay over
+mountain and valley, swept free from clouds by the keen northern blast as
+it blew across the hills, swaying the big trees hither and thither as if
+they were bulrushes, and now and then tearing off huge branches which fell
+crashing to the ground. Other and sadder victims were sacrificed to this
+fierce north wind. Human beings as well as inanimate objects fell before
+him. He struck down with his mighty arm, not only the old and feeble, but
+the young and strong; just as he swept away the clouds, hurrying them
+across the skies, beyond the horizon line, away out of sight. Sometimes in
+one day, a cruel malady would seize one occupant out of each one of the
+three or four little villages clustered on the hillside. A sharp pain
+attacked the lungs, and after a brief illness the resistless disease bore
+away the sufferer to the silent grave.
+
+At the very moment of which we write, a group of black-clad mourners were
+standing near one of the pleasantest houses in the isolated village of
+Tannenegg, waiting for the sound of the church bell, as the signal to lift
+the covered bier on which was stretched the body of a young woman, the
+last victim to the north wind's cruel stroke, and to bear her to her
+final resting place. In the quiet room within, two children were seated on
+a bench, which ran along the wall. They formed a striking contrast to each
+other. The girl, a little black-eyed frowning thing, dressed in some
+mourning stuff, followed with fierce looks the rapid movements of a woman
+who, standing before an open cup-board, was moving its contents over and
+about, as if in search of something that did not come to hand. The boy was
+also watching her, but his dancing blue eyes had in them a merry look of
+pleased expectation.
+
+"I want to go out, Cousin Judith," said the girl, and her tones were half
+angry, half anxious, "Where can my mother be?"
+
+"Be still, be still," said the woman, still tumbling the contents of the
+cup-board about nervously. "I shall find something pretty for you
+presently; then you must sit down quietly and play with it, and not go
+outside, not one step, do you hear? Pshaw! there is nothing but rubbish
+here!"
+
+"Well, then give us the rose," said the little girl, still scowling.
+
+The woman looked about the room.
+
+"There are no roses here," she said. "How should there be, in March?" she
+added, half vexed at having looked for them. "There," said the child,
+pointing towards a book that the woman had but a moment before replaced in
+the cup-board.
+
+"Ah! now I know what you mean. So your mother always kept the rose, the
+"Fortune rose?" I often envied her when she used to show it to us in her
+hymn-book;" and as she spoke, she turned the leaves of the old hymnal,
+until she found the rose and handed it to the child.
+
+"Take it," she said, "be quiet, and do not get up from your seats till I
+come back;" and she hurried from the room.
+
+The little girl took the prettily-painted rose, in her hand; it was an old
+acquaintance, her favorite Sunday plaything.
+
+When her mother wanted to secure a quiet hour for herself on Sundays, she
+used to give her "Fortune rose" to her little Veronica, and it was sure to
+occupy the child for a long time in perfect contentment.
+
+"Look, this is the way you must do," said the child, as she pulled with
+her fingers a small strip of paper that stood out from the side of the
+picture; suddenly before the astonished eyes of the boy the red full calix
+of the rose flew open, disclosing a glittering golden verse that lay in
+the centre of the flower. Then Veronica pushed the paper-strip back, and
+the rose folded its leaves and was a perfect flower again.
+
+Quite dazzled by this wonderful magic the little boy stared with amazement
+at the rose, and then seized it to try for himself.
+
+While the children were playing, Veronica's mother was being laid in her
+grave. After awhile Cousin Judith came back into the room. She was
+"cousin" to all Tannenegg, though related to no one. She came back to take
+the rose, and put it into the hook, which she replaced in the cup-board.
+"Sit still awhile longer, children;" she said, "and presently your mother
+will come for you. Be good and do not trouble her, for she has enough to
+bear already."
+
+It was the little boy's mother she meant, and the children knew it. They
+knew also very well, that they must be good and not trouble her, for they
+had seen her for two days going about the house with eyes red with
+weeping. Presently she entered the room, and took the children one by each
+hand, and went to the door with them. She seemed to be struggling with sad
+and heavy thoughts. She usually spoke cheerily to the children, but now
+she was silent, and every now and then she furtively wiped away a tear.
+
+"Where are we going, mother?" asked the boy.
+
+"We must go to the doctor's, Dietrich," she answered, "your father is very
+ill." And she led them along the foot path toward the little town, where
+the white houses shone in the sunlight. Fohrensee was a new place, that
+had sprung up as if in one night from the soil, and now stood there a
+great white spot against the dark hillside. Not long before, it had been
+only a little cluster of houses standing in a protected spot on the side
+of the hill, not very far below Tannenegg. It was so situated that the
+biting north wind, which blew so sharply over the exposed houses of
+Tannenegg, did not reach the nook where little Fohrensee lay bathed in the
+full light of the sun. But the little place was high enough to be visited
+by all the cooling breezes, and was healthy, pure and fresh, to a
+remarkable degree. When, not long before this time, an enterprising
+inn-keeper discovered its health-giving qualities, and built an inn there,
+guests filled it so rapidly that he soon put up another. Soon, one after
+another, little inns sprang up, as from the ground, and then a crowd of
+trades-people came up from the valley, and settled around, for the number
+of guests constantly increased, and the strangers found the spot so
+favorable to health, that it became a favorite winter resort. And thus the
+obscure little Fohrensee became, in a few years, a large and flourishing
+town, stretching out in every direction.
+
+Gertrude, however, walking sturdily along with the children, was not
+going as far as Fohrensee, with its shining white houses. She turned off
+into a foot path that led to several scattered dwellings up on the
+hillside, and soon reached an open space, on which stood a handsome house,
+with large stables near by. Out from the stable, a hostler had just led a
+spirited horse, which he began to harness into a light wagon. Instantly
+the little boy freed his hand from his mother's, planted himself before
+the horse, and could not be induced to move.
+
+"Stay there then, if you want to," said his mother, "we will go on to the
+house; but you must take care not to go too near the horse."
+
+The doctor was just hurrying out from his office; he must have had a long
+distance to go, for he was starting off before the usual time for office
+hours was over. Gertrude apologized, and begged the doctor to excuse her
+for not having come earlier to see him; she had been very busy with her
+invalid, and could not get away before. "Never mind; as you have come, I
+will wait a few minutes," said the physician, briefly; "Come in; how is
+your husband?"
+
+Gertrude went into the room, and told the doctor about her sick husband.
+It was Steffan, a strong, young man, on whom the mountain sickness had
+seized with unusual violence. The doctor silently shook his head. He took
+a small mortar that stood on the office table, and shook into it some
+stuff which he ground with the marble pestle. His eyes fell on the child
+who stood by Gertrude's side, gazing earnestly at the doctors's
+occupation. The little creature had something unusual about her, and
+attracted attention at once. Under her thick black hair and heavy brows,
+her big eyes looked forth with a solemn gaze, as if everything she saw
+gave her food for thought.
+
+"He had no one but himself to blame for it, I fancy," said the doctor, as
+he filled some small square papers with his powders.
+
+"No, no! he was not the least of a brawler; he was a quiet industrious
+fellow. They had rented some of our rooms, and lived there peaceably and
+happily for three whole years, and never was an unkind word exchanged
+between them. But he was a stranger in these parts; he was never called
+anything but the Bergamasker, and the other fellows could never forgive
+him for having won the prettiest and most courted girl in the whole
+village. They never ceased to tease and irritate him, and on this especial
+evening at the Rehbock they must have been unusually offensive. Apparently
+they were all somewhat excited, for they could afterwards give no clear
+account of the affair, but the end was that the Bergamasker came home
+fatally wounded, and died the next day. Everything has been different
+among us since the Rehbock was built. Our village used to be quiet and
+orderly; every one was contented to work all the week and rest on Sunday.
+Nobody ever heard of such a thing as noisy drinking and rowdyism. But I
+have another errand with you now, doctor. Lene charged me on her death
+bed to attend to it. She did not leave any money, but she had an excellent
+outfit. She bade me sell her bedstead and her bureau, and bring you the
+proceeds, to settle what she owed you. She was very anxious that I should
+see to it, for she felt that you had done a great deal for her; and she
+spoke of how often you had climbed the hill both by day and night, to
+visit her. So, please give me the bill, doctor, so that I may settle it at
+once, as I promised her."
+
+"What relatives has the child?" asked the doctor shortly.
+
+"She has none at all in these parts," replied Gertrude. "She has been with
+me all through her mother's illness, and now she is mine. Her mother's
+family are all gone. She might perhaps be sent to her father's parish in
+Bergamaskische, but I shall not do that; she belongs now to us."
+
+"I would not go there," said the child firmly in a low tone, clinging to
+Gertrude's dress with both hands.
+
+The doctor opened a big book, tore out a leaf, and drew his pen twice
+across the closely written page.
+
+"There," he said, handing the cancelled sheet to Gertrude, "that is all
+the bill I shall give you."
+
+"Oh, doctor, may God reward you," said Gertrude. "Go, child, and thank the
+doctor, for you owe him a great deal."
+
+The child obeyed after her own fashion. She planted herself before the big
+man, looked steadily at him with her great black eyes and said somewhat
+hoarsely,
+
+"Thank you." It sounded more like a command than anything else.
+
+The doctor laughed.
+
+"She is rather alarming," he said, "she is evidently not accustomed to say
+anything she does not really mean. I like that. But come, I must be off,"
+and handing the medicine to Gertrude he left the room quickly so as to
+avoid her repeated thanks.
+
+The little boy was standing where his mother had left him, still staring
+at the restless horse. The doctor looked kindly at the little fellow.
+
+"Would you like to take care of a horse?" he asked, as he got into his
+wagon.
+
+"No, I should like to drive one of my own," replied the child without
+hesitation.
+
+"Well, you are quite right there: stick to that, my boy," said the
+doctor, and drove away.
+
+As Gertrude, holding a child by each hand, climbed the hillside, the boy
+said gaily,
+
+"Say, mother, I can have one, can't I?"
+
+"Do you mean to be a gentleman like the doctor, and own a horse,
+Dietrich?" asked the mother.
+
+The boy nodded.
+
+"So you can, if you will work hard for it, and stick to your work well.
+You see the doctor had to do that for a long time, and has to do it still,
+and if you stick to your work as he has, and never stop nor get tired till
+it is done, and well done, then you will be a gentleman, even if you are
+not a doctor. It doesn't matter what you do; you may be a gentleman if
+you persevere and work hard and faithfully."
+
+"Yes, with a horse," said Dietrich.
+
+The little girl had been listening intently to every word of this
+conversation. Her black eyes blazed out suddenly as she looked up to
+Gertrude and said decidedly,
+
+"I'll be one too."
+
+"Yes, Yes, Mr. Veronica! Mr. Veronica! that sounds well," cried Dietrich,
+and he laughed aloud at the idea.
+
+Veronica thought it no laughing matter, however. She pressed Gertrude's
+hand firmly and looked up with glowing eyes, as she said, "I can be one
+too, can't I mother; say?"
+
+"You should not laugh, Dietrich," said his mother kindly. "Veronica can be
+exactly what you can be. If she works steadily, and does not grow tired
+and careless, but keeps on till her work is finished and well finished,
+she will be a lady as you will be a gentleman."
+
+Veronica trotted along contentedly after this explanation. She did not
+speak again. The frowning brows were smoothed and the fiery eyes now shone
+with the light of childish joy as she caught sight of the first flowers
+that began to peep above the ground. The child's face looked fairly
+charming now; her well-formed features framed by the dark locks, made a
+beautiful picture.
+
+Dietrich was also silent: but he was pursuing the same train of thought,
+for he broke out presently,
+
+"Will she have a horse too?"
+
+"Why not, as well as you. It all depends on how steadily and how
+faithfully you both work," replied Gertrude.
+
+"Well, then, we shall have two horses," cried the boy, joyfully. "Where
+shall we put the stable, mother?"
+
+"We can see to that bye and bye, there is plenty of time for that. It
+won't do for you to be thinking about the horse all the time, you know,
+you must keep your mind on your work if you mean to do it well."
+
+Dieterli said no more. He was busy trying to decide on which side of the
+house it would be best to put the stable.
+
+That night, Gertrude again hurried down the hill to the doctor's houses
+and this time she brought him back with her.
+
+Her husband's illness had taken a turn for the worse, and the next day he
+died.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+WITH FRESH COURAGE.
+
+
+A few days later a numerous company of mourners followed another black
+bier to the sunny church-yard.
+
+Steffan, the saddler, had been universally respected. He had begun life
+modestly; there had been no large industries in Tannenegg in his early
+days. He married the quiet and orderly Gertrude, who worked with him at
+his trade, and helped support the frugal household. Soon the flood of
+prosperity invaded Fohrensee, and naturally the only saddler in the
+vicinity had his hands full of work.
+
+Now Gertrude's help was needed in earnest, and she did not fail. They were
+soon in possession of a nice little house of their own, with a garden
+about it, and no matter how much work she might have to do in the shop,
+everything in her own province of housekeeping was as well and carefully
+ordered as if Gertrude had no other business to occupy her time and
+thoughts. And Steffan, Gertrude and their little Dieterli lived simple,
+useful and contented lives and were a good example to all the
+neighborhood.
+
+Now, to-day, Gertrude stood weeping by the window and looked across to the
+church-yard, where that very morning they had laid her good man. Now she
+must make her way alone; she had no one to help her, no one belonging to
+her except her two children, and for them she must work, for she never
+admitted for a moment that the orphaned Veronica was not hers to care for
+as well as her own little Dietrich.
+
+She did not lose courage. As soon as the first benumbing effect of her
+sorrow had passed a little, she gazed up at the shining heavens and said
+to herself, "He who has sent this trouble will send me strength to bear
+it;" and in full trust in this strength she went to work, and seemed able
+to do more than ever.
+
+Her property, outside of the little capital which her husband had laid by,
+consisted of her house, which was free from debt, and of which she could
+let a good part. The question was, whether she could carry on the
+remunerative business that her husband had been engaged in, until little
+Dietrich should be old enough to assume the direction of it, and pursue it
+as his father had done before him. Gertrude retained the services of a
+workman who had been employed by Steffan, and she herself did not relax
+her labors early and late, to oversee the work and keep all in running
+order.
+
+For the first few weeks after her mother's death little Veronica sat every
+evening weeping silently by herself in a dark corner of the room. When
+Gertrude found her thus grieving, she asked kindly what ailed her, and
+again and again, she received only this sorrowful answer,
+
+"I want my mother."
+
+Gertrude drew the child tenderly towards her, caressing her, and
+promising her that they would all go together some day to join her mother,
+who had only gone on before, that she might get strong and well again. And
+gradually this second mother grew to take the place of her own, and no
+game, no amusement could draw the loving child away from Gertrude's side.
+Only Dietrich could succeed in enticing her to go with him now and then.
+
+The lad's love for his mother showed itself in a louder and more
+demonstrative manner. He often threw his arms about her neck, crying
+passionately,
+
+"My mother belongs to me and to nobody else."
+
+Then Veronica's brows would knit over her flashing eyes, until they formed
+a long straight line across her face. But she did not speak. And Gertrude
+would put one arm about the boy's neck and the other about the little
+girl's, and say,
+
+"You must not speak so, Dietrich. I belong to you both, and you both
+belong to me."
+
+In general, the two children were excellent friends, and completely
+inseparable. They were not happy unless they shared everything together
+and wherever one went, the other must go too. They went regularly to
+school every morning, and were always joined by two of the neighbors'
+children, who went with them.
+
+These were, the son of the shoemaker, long, bony Jost, with his little,
+cunning eyes,--and the sexton's boy, who was as broad as he was long, and
+from whose round face two pale eyes peered forth upon the world, in
+innocently stupid surprise. His name was Blasius, nicknamed Blasi.
+
+Often, on the way to school, quarrels arose between Dieterli and the two
+other boys. It would occur to one of them to try what Veronica would do if
+he were to give her a blow with his fist. Scarcely had he opened his
+attack when he found himself lying on his nose, while Dieterli played a
+vigorous tattoo on his back with no gentle fists. Or the sport would be to
+plant a good hard snow-ball between Veronica's shoulders, with the
+mortifying result to the aggressive boy, of being pelted in the face with
+handfuls of wet snow, until he was almost stifled, and cried out for
+mercy. Dieterli was not afraid of either of them; for though smaller and
+thinner than either, he was also much more lithe, and could glide about
+like a lizard before, behind and all around his adversaries, and slip
+through their fingers while they were trying to catch him. Veronica was
+well avenged, and went on the rest of her way without fear of molestation.
+If one of the other lads felt in a friendly mood, and wished to act as
+escort to the little girl, Dieterli soon gave him to understand that that
+was his own place, and he would give it up to no one.
+
+Every evening "Cousin Judith" came for a little visit, to give Gertrude
+some friendly advice about the children, or the household economy. She
+used to say that the gentle widow needed some one now and then to show
+claws in her behalf, and Judith knew herself to be in full possession of
+claws, and of the power to use them, an accomplishment of which she was
+somewhat proud. One evening she crossed over between daylight and dark,
+and entered the room where Veronica was, with her favorite plaything in
+her hand, moving it back and forth as she sat in the window in the waning
+light. She could read very nicely now for two years had passed since she
+had lost her own mother, and had become Gertrude's child. Many a time had
+she read over the motto which shone out so mysteriously from the breast of
+the opened rose. To-day she was poring over it again, and her absorption
+in "that same old rose," as Dieterli called it, had so annoyed the lively
+lad that he left her, and had gone out into the kitchen to find his
+mother. When Judith saw the girl sitting thus alone, buried in thought,
+she asked her what she was thinking about in the twilight all by herself.
+
+Dieterli, whom no sound ever escaped, had heard Cousin Judith come in, and
+came running in from the kitchen to see what was going on. Veronica looked
+up at the visitor and asked earnestly,
+
+"Cousin Judith, what is fortune?"
+
+"Ah, you are always asking some strange question that no one else ever
+thought of asking;" said Cousin Judith, "where on earth did you ever hear
+of fortune?"
+
+"Here," said Veronica, holding up the rose with the golden verse in the
+centre. "Shall I read it to you?"
+
+"Yes, do, child."
+
+Veronica read--
+
+    "Fortune stands ready, full in sight;
+     He wins who knows to grasp it right."
+
+"Well, it means this--I should say--fortune is whatever anyone wants the
+most."
+
+"Fortune is a horse, then," said Dietrich quickly.
+
+Veronica sat thinking. "But, Cousin Judith," she said presently, "how can
+any one 'grasp fortune'?"
+
+"With your hands," replied Cousin Judith unhesitatingly, "You see, our
+hands are given us to work with, and if we use them diligently and do our
+work well, as it ought to be done, then fortune comes to us; so don't you
+see we 'grasp it' with our hands?"
+
+The verse had now become endued with life, and meant something real and
+attractive to Veronica. She did not lay her rose out of her hand for a
+long time, that evening, notwithstanding that Dietrich cast threatening
+glances upon it, and finally broke out in vexation,
+
+"I will tear off the spring some time, and spoil the thing altogether."
+
+The rose was not put into the book and the book into the cup-board, until
+the time came for the children to say their evening prayers. This was the
+closing act of every day; and it was so fixed and regular a habit, that
+the children never needed to be bidden to fold their hands, and kneel to
+ask God's blessing before they slept.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+NINE YEARS LATER.
+
+
+A sunshiny Easter morning shone over hill and valley. A crowd of
+holiday-making people poured out of the little church at Tannenegg, and
+scattered in every direction. A long row of blooming lads and lassies came
+in close ranks, moving slowly towards the parsonage. They were the
+newly-confirmed young people of the parish, who had that day partaken of
+the Communion for the first time. They were going to the house of their
+pastor, to express their gratitude for his careful and tender teaching and
+guidance, before they went out into the world. Among these were Dietrich
+and Veronica. Gertrude stood at a little distance from the church, and
+watched the procession as it passed by. Her eyes were filled with tears of
+pleasurable emotion, as she noticed that her dark-eyed Veronica was
+conspicuous among all the maidens for the tasteful neatness of her
+costume, and for the sweetness and grace of her bearing. The glance which
+Veronica cast upon the mother in passing was full of love and gratitude;
+and seemed to repeat the words that the faithful girl had spoken in the
+morning, as she left her to go to the church. "I cannot thank you enough,
+as long as I live, for what you have done for me, mother." A yet brighter
+expression of happiness crossed Gertrude's countenance when the young men
+came in procession after the girls, as her eyes fell on the well-formed
+lad, a head taller than his companions, who nodded at her, and greeted her
+with merry laughing looks, kissing his hand again and again, and yet once
+again. That was her tall handsome Dietrich. His mother's heart leaped in
+her breast at the sight of his fresh young life, so full of hope and
+promise. Gertrude waited till the visit to the pastor was over, and the
+young people had separated on their various paths. Then she in her turn
+entered the parsonage. She wished herself to speak her thanks to this true
+and long tried adviser and friend, for all that he had done for her
+children.
+
+"You are a fortunate mother," said the aged pastor, after he had listened
+to Gertrude's expressions of gratitude. "Those are two uncommon children
+that the good God has confided to your care, and I feel the greatest
+interest in them. The lad has a clear head, and a winning grace that draws
+everyone to him. Veronica is serious and conscientious; she has a calm
+steady nature and can be depended upon for fidelity to duty, such as it is
+rare to find. The children will be your stay and comfort in your old age.
+May you keep them in the paths of virtue."
+
+"With God's help;" said Gertrude, and she left the parsonage with tears of
+happiness in her eyes. As she passed the garden of her neighbor Judith,
+the latter called out over the low hedge,
+
+"They have just gone by, all four of them. It always seems to me strange
+that while all babies in the cradle look just alike, so that you can't
+tell them apart, they grow up to be such very different men and women."
+
+"No, no, these four were never alike," replied Gertrude, "but I agree that
+they grow more and more unlike every day."
+
+"Yes, that they do. And of you three near neighbors, you certainly have
+drawn the best lot in children," said Judith with enthusiasm, "two like
+your two are not to be found in a long day's journey. Veronica will fully
+repay you for what you have done for her."
+
+"I have been repaid long ago by the child's attachment to me. She has
+never given me anything but satisfaction ever since her mother died. If I
+have any anxiety about Veronica it is lest she over-work herself. There is
+something feverish in her love of work; she can never do enough. No matter
+how late I go into her room at night, she is always finishing off some
+piece of work; and no matter how early I get up in the morning, she has
+already begun something new. If I had not positively forbidden it, she
+would keep at it even on a Sunday. It is a real source of anxiety to me,
+lest she should over-work and break down."
+
+"Oh, I don't think you need be afraid of that, Gertrude; work never yet
+hurt any one, least of all the young folks. Let her work away. But I don't
+see the need of her scowling so all the time. She looks for all the world
+as if she were fighting and struggling against enemies and difficulties
+of all sorts. I like better Dietrich's laughing eyes; they are so full of
+fun. When he goes down the street singing--
+
+    'Gladly and merrily
+     Live to-day cheerily,
+     Black care and sorrow
+     Leave till to-morrow,'
+
+it goes right to my heart, and I could sing too for very joy. No one can
+help loving him."
+
+Gertrude listened with sunshine in her face to these words of praise, but
+a little cloud of anxiety shadowed her eyes as she said,
+
+"Yes, God be praised, he is a good boy and means well, but I do wish that
+he had a little of Veronica's firmness of purpose. It is very pleasant to
+have every one like him, but too great popularity is not always a good
+thing. And those two companions that are always hanging about him, are not
+such as I myself would choose for his friends."
+
+"If they could all be put to some steady work it would be the best thing
+for them," said Judith. "Idleness is the mother of mischief. Blasi is not
+an ill-meaning fellow, but he is lazy, greatly to his own injury. Long
+Jost is the worst of the two; a sly-boots, and a rare one too. It is to be
+hoped that he will break his own leg, when he's trying to trip some one
+else up with it."
+
+"No, no, Judith, on this holy Easter day, we will not have such unkind
+hopes as that. I hope and believe that the good God holds the children in
+his protecting hand. We have given them to him; that is my comfort and
+support Good-bye, Judith; come often to see us; we are always glad of your
+company."
+
+On the evening of this sunny Easter day, while rosy clouds moved slowly
+across the clear sky, and the golden glow faded in the far west behind the
+wooded heights, Gertrude came back from a long walk in the fields and
+woods. On one side of her strode Dietrich, talking rapidly and earnestly:
+the fresh joy of youth was written in every movement of his little figure,
+and laughed from the depths of his clear eyes. On the other side Veronica
+walked, listening in silence. Her noble features, above which her black
+hair fell in shining waves, had a serious, thoughtful expression, but
+every now and then, when Dietrich let fall some particularly apt
+expression, a look would cross her face that irradiated it like a sunbeam
+crossing a shadowed plain. Mother Gertrude looked now proudly at her
+radiant son, now approvingly at her stately daughter, and again she lifted
+grateful glances towards the glowing heavens where she saw promise of
+another brilliant day to come. Far and wide, in all Tannenegg, was not to
+be found that day, such another happy mother as Gertrude.
+
+When they reached the crossways where the footpath led up by the tavern of
+the Rehbock, Dietrich turned into it, and his mother was about to follow
+him, but Veronica drew her back, saying anxiously,
+
+"Don't go that way, mother dear; it is not much farther by the other
+road."
+
+Dietrich laughed aloud.
+
+"Now there it is again. Do you know, mother, that I can never get Veronica
+to go past the Rehbock. She would rather go ten minutes farther round, and
+she will not say why either. To-day, Veronica, I am determined that you
+shall go this way or tell us why not."
+
+"No; to-day we will not quarrel, Dietrich, please;" said the girl
+entreatingly, but with a tone that showed no signs of yielding her point,
+"let us sing a song as we go; mother loves to hear us sing."
+
+As she spoke, she walked steadily along the road, and the others followed,
+
+"Well then," said the lad, "let's sing 'Gladly and merrily'"--and he began
+to sing the familiar tune.
+
+"To-night I should rather sing the Fisher-boat," said Veronica, and
+without demur the good-natured boy dropped his song, and joined his clear
+tones with Veronica's steady voice, the two harmonizing perfectly as they
+sang:
+
+    "A tiny boat, a fisher-boat,
+        Tossed lightly on the silver sea;
+     Around the rocks, in air, afloat
+        The white gulls circle lazily.
+     A tiny boat, a fisher-boat--
+        The fisher draws his slender line;
+     He half in dream-land seems to float.
+        Saying, 'to-morrow will be fine.'"
+
+Softly singing, in the soft falling shadows of evening, the happy trio
+drew towards their home, and disappeared within the cottage door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ALL AT HOME.
+
+
+Dietrich had already worked for some time in his father's business. It was
+all in the best possible condition; the work shop, the tools and materials
+had been carefully kept up, and everything was fresh and in good working
+order. The old customers had not withdrawn their custom, for the former
+workman who had served under Steffan for many years had continued his
+deceased master's methods, so that the reputation of the work was
+sustained, and as Fohrensee grew, so also the saddler's orders grew, and
+the business flourished. So Dietrich found his trade ready made to his
+hand, and as good a prospect lay before him as heart could wish. He took
+hold with a good will, and being his own master did not make him the less
+diligent. He was determined first to work faithfully till he had
+thoroughly learned the business, and then to travel for a while. When he
+had seen the world a bit he would come back, go on with the business
+farther and farther, and become a gentleman; and then--then--where could a
+happier man be found than he should be, living with his mother and
+Veronica in peace and plenty. His mother should pass her days in happy
+idleness if she wished, without care, without sorrow, in wealth and
+comfort, and Veronica! Yes, he would give Veronica a life far happier and
+more beautiful than she had ever dreamed of for herself! While his brain
+teemed with these pleasant thoughts, Dietrich sang and whistled at his
+work all day long, and did good work, too. He had a skilful hand and a
+clear head, and his work went successfully on.
+
+Veronica had persuaded her mother to let her stay longer in the Industrial
+School than was usual with the young girls of the neighborhood. Even up to
+the day of her confirmation, she had taken sewing lessons twice from a
+most accomplished teacher. A short time before Easter, the teacher had
+assured Gertrude that Veronica had made such extraordinary progress, that
+she was already prepared to teach, and that she had completed the course
+taught at that school, and could learn no more there. Veronica certainly
+deserved farther training and the teacher suggested that it would be well
+worth while for her to take lessons in embroidery of lame Sabina in
+Fohrensee. She would then be sure of a position as a teacher, as high as
+her utmost ambition could desire.
+
+It had always been Gertrude's plan to have Veronica learn to work at the
+saddler's business, as there is a good deal of the fine work which is
+suitable for women, and which it needs a woman's hand to carry out. She
+hoped that in this way her children could always remain together and with
+her. The fine embroidery for which lame Sabina was noted, it did not seem
+to her at all necessary for Veronica to learn, but she was willing to
+leave the decision to her. As soon as Veronica heard of this new work to
+be learned, she was eager to begin upon it, and she left her mother no
+peace until she extracted from her the promise that directly after the
+confirmation, this new undertaking should be entered upon.
+
+A few days after Easter Sunday, Veronica went to take her first lesson. It
+was very early in the morning when she started to go down to Fohrensee; so
+early that people were just beginning to open their windows, and only here
+and there a sleepy face was to be seen at the door of a house. She had to
+go early in order to get in a good day's work, for she was to come home at
+night, and it was an hour's walk each way. She knew well the old cottage
+with the beautiful carnations illuminating its windows, which was the home
+of lame Sabina. The windows were already open, and the door also. She
+entered and her new life began.
+
+Up in Tannenegg, Dietrich sat at his work, singing and whistling merrily.
+His mother, busy with her household affairs went hither and thither about
+the house, from sitting room to kitchen, and then with the feeding-bucket,
+out on the grass plat before the house, where a flock of handsome fowl
+were pecking about. All was still quiet in the neighboring houses, but
+over by the well stood the never-idle Judith, beating and turning her
+clothes as she washed them. Along the road with uncertain steps came the
+old sexton, swinging the big church-keys in his hand; he had been ringing
+the early morning peal. As he lifted his cap a little to salute Judith at
+the well, she called out,
+
+"Good day, neighbor, I was just thinking it would be a good exchange if
+the old folks were to lie abed at this hour and let the young ones pull
+the bell rope."
+
+"Well, some one must be doing it," said the other, and passed on his way.
+
+Judith had been busy at her washing full two hours longer, when in the
+doorway of the sexton's house appeared a young fellow, whose figure,
+almost as broad as it was long, filled the opening, with scarce anything
+to spare. He tried to yawn, but there was not room enough to stretch his
+arms, so he stepped outside for the purpose, and there he gaped so
+heartily that all the inside of his big mouth and throat was distinctly
+visible.
+
+"There's nothing in it, Blasi! I've had a good look at it," cried Judith.
+"If you had been here two hours ago, you might have seen a sight. A girl
+with a whole mouthful of gold! What do you say to that?"
+
+Blasi caught at this, and brought his jaws together with a snap.
+
+"What! full of gold?" he exclaimed, and opened his sleepy eyes to their
+utmost extent. "Why doesn't the foolish thing carry it in her pocket?
+Where does she come from?"
+
+"That's no concern of yours. You will never come up with her," replied
+Judith.
+
+"Tell me, for all that," urged Blasi, coming toward Judith, "I can go
+after her, and I've no doubt I shall come up with her, and then there's no
+telling what may happen. Come, where did she go, now? Do you know her
+name?"
+
+"Her name is Early Morn, Blasi," said Judith pleasantly. "Did you never
+hear the saying, 'There's gold in the mouth of the early morn.'"
+
+Blasi made a wry face and began in an angry tone,
+
+"There's nothing very clever in that"--but just then he remembered that
+when he came out of the house he had intended to come over and say
+something quite different to Judith; so he changed his tone quickly, and
+said,
+
+"Can you lend me a franc or two; I have just time to do a little business
+before eleven o'clock, and then I must be back to ring the noon bell; I
+must try to help father, a little."
+
+"No, no, Blasi, I have no francs for you," said Judith decidedly. "It
+wants three hours yet of being eleven o'clock. Use those big arms of
+yours, and they'll bring you francs enough." And so saying, she lifted her
+clothes-basket on her head, and walked away.
+
+Blasi stood looking after her, a moment, then he sauntered off, with both
+hands in his pockets, up the road towards, the shoemaker's old house.
+There sat Jost before the door, hammering away at something as if for dear
+life. Blasi drew near, and stood watching the busy hands of his friend,
+who presently cried out angrily,
+
+"So it is holiday with you, is it, you lazy-bones? It is maddening to see
+one fellow go wandering about with his hands in his pockets, while another
+has to sit on his three-legged stool, hammering away at the soles of
+these--these--these Tanneneggers' boots. To-morrow is Cherry-festival in
+Fohrensee, and every one is going; and I, I must get their boots ready! I
+wish a thunder-storm would come and wash this away, and that, and the
+whole lot of 'em!" As he spoke he tossed away first the mended boots, then
+the hammer, and last of all the three-legged stool, away, as far as he
+could throw them, down into the meadow. He was white with rage.
+
+"What stuff!" said Blasi, dryly. "You are paid for your cobbling; you are
+better off than I am. I haven't a rap, and am in debt besides. I was going
+to ask you if you couldn't lend me a franc. You have money, I know."
+
+"Oh yes, you sleepy-head! It's very likely I have money for you, when I'm
+in such need of it myself! Go ask Dietrich; he has his pockets full, and a
+big heap besides. But don't be such a fool as to ask him for just one mean
+little franc; ask for five. I'll use two or three of them; tell him you'll
+pay him again in a week."
+
+Blasi seemed rather undecided.
+
+"I should have gone to him long ago," he said, "but his mother is always
+about, and she looks at a fellow as a bird does when somebody is trying to
+rob her nest. I'm afraid of her."
+
+"Poh! it's all right enough to borrow a little money if you're going to
+pay it back again. Don't be a fool! Go along!" and Jost enforced his
+advise with an emphatic shove that sent Blasi rolling along much faster
+than he wished to go. He grumbled a little at this unpleasant style of
+progression, and muttered between his teeth,
+
+"He's no right to treat me so; I'm as good as he is, any day."
+
+When he reached Gertrude's garden, he stood still and looked over the
+hedge. Dietrich's mother was there, planting her vegetable bed. He
+sauntered back and forth for awhile, and when he saw her go to the other
+corner of the garden, he thought he could now get without being seen, into
+the room where he heard Dietrich whistling at his work. He went round the
+garden, and was just going in at the back gate, when he came plump against
+Gertrude. He went by quickly as if he had had no idea of going in; and
+then hung about watching his chance, but as time did not stand still
+while he waited, it was bye-and-bye eleven o'clock, and he had to go off
+to ring the noon bell.
+
+In the afternoon, neighbor Judith was hoeing in her little garden. Blasi
+stood hesitating in his door-way, and then came out and stood watching her
+at her work.
+
+"I am always surprised, Blasi," said Judith, looking up from her work, "to
+see you in company with a fellow, who steals your money from your pockets,
+before you know it is there. I would not have anything to do with such a
+one."
+
+"What? who?" asked Blasi, fumbling in his empty pockets. "Who picks my
+pockets? Who are you talking about? I know I did have some; I wish you
+would tell me the thief."
+
+"I'll tell no tales," said Judith, working away.
+
+"Bah! tell me, won't you? A fellow can't defend himself unless he knows
+who is attacking him," growled Blasi. "You might say who you mean."
+
+"Well, I will. Go and take him by the ear. His name is Idleness!" As
+Judith spoke, she raised her head, and looked Blasi full in the face; then
+she bent to her work again.
+
+The lad was angry. He had hoped that he was going to get something back of
+which he had been robbed, and that Judith would help him as she had been a
+witness of the theft.
+
+"Oh, what a fuss you make over a few minutes," he said crossly; "I have to
+go at four o'clock to ring the bell. I think I ought to take a little from
+the old man."
+
+"I should say you took more from him than he had. It has just struck half
+past two; do you know how many minutes there are in an hour and a half?"
+
+"There's no getting along with you," said Blasi, turning away.
+
+"Well, you get along finely without me, so go on and prosper," said Judith
+quickly as the lad disappeared.
+
+Blasi had by no means given up his project. He did not see anyone in
+Gertrude's garden as he passed along. He clambered up on the lattice by
+the hedge and peeped through the open window into the room. Dietrich's
+mother was seated near her son; both were working steadily, the young
+fellow was chattering and laughing gaily, and his mother answered and
+laughed too, but they did not stop working all the while. Blasi saw
+plainly that this was not the time to make his request. He would wait
+until the mother had gone to the kitchen, as she was sure to do
+bye-and-bye. Four o'clock came and the great business of his day was at
+hand; it was time to ring the bell, and he had to go. At last when evening
+came Blasi found his opportunity. He stood watching outside the door, when
+suddenly Dietrich threw it open, and started off with rapid strides.
+
+Blasi called out, "Wait, wait a minute, can't you? What's your hurry?"
+
+Dietrich turned about.
+
+"What do you want? Tell me quickly. I'm going to meet Veronica; she can't
+come home alone through the woods after dusk."
+
+"Well, look here," said Blasi, breathing hard with his haste, and holding
+Dietrich by the arm. "You see, I'm in trouble for want of a few francs or
+so. Can't you lend them to me? I'll give them back again very soon."
+
+"I haven't that much about me now. Stop a minute--yes, here are two francs
+and here's a half; will that be enough?" and throwing the money to Blasi,
+the young man hastened away.
+
+As evening drew on, Gertrude stood at the end of the garden and looked
+down the road. She listened to every sound that came from below. She was
+waiting for her children's voices, for the sound of their footsteps; her
+children, who made her life, her happiness, her hope! Ah! there they are!
+that is Dietrich's voice talking eagerly, while Veronica's bell-like
+laugh sounds clear through the still evening air. With a heart filled to
+overflowing with happiness, Gertrude went forth to meet them.
+
+As they sat together round the table in their usual cheerful mood, the
+mother asked for an account of this, Veronica's first day among strangers,
+and how she liked her new work.
+
+"Very much indeed, mother," was the answer, and the young girl's face
+beamed with a smile that swept away all trace of the clouds that sometimes
+marred its beauty.
+
+"I can't tell you how delightful it is to be able to earn so much. But
+after all, mother dear, the best part is that I can come home to you at
+night."
+
+"That's what I think too," said Dietrich quickly, and you had but to look
+in his eyes to see that he spoke the truth.
+
+"And I am as glad as either of you," said Gertrude smiling. "It has been a
+long day for me. It seems a great while since you started off this
+morning, Veronica."
+
+"What! when your only son was sitting by you all day long?" asked Dietrich
+playfully.
+
+"Oh, you know what I mean. I need you both to make me perfectly happy, and
+cannot spare either of you;" and she looked from one to the other with
+caressing glances.
+
+Veronica told them all about the new teacher and the new work, and it was
+late in the evening before the three separated for the night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+UPON UNSAFE PATHS.
+
+
+After this evening, Dietrich was scarcely ever able to go on his walk
+alone. Blasi had always some pretext for joining him, and when Jost found
+out that regularly every evening his friend took the same walk at the same
+hour, he too discovered that he had a great deal to tell him, and to
+consult him about. The two accompanied him through the wood, and when they
+emerged from it on the other side, they usually saw a graceful figure
+coming along the white road that led up the hill from Fohrensee. Then
+without a word on the subject, as by tacit agreement, they stopped, shook
+hands, and separated; the other two turned back toward the village, and
+Dietrich went on. They felt instinctively that this was the best thing to
+do. Dietrich, certainly, found out that his companions were not to
+Veronica's mind, when one evening, the three being so engaged in talk that
+they had not noticed that they were later than usual, Veronica came into
+the wood before they left it, and she recognized Blasi and Jost, although
+they turned quickly back.
+
+"They can't have the best of consciences," said Veronica, as Dietrich
+joined her; "if they had only straight-forward business on hand, why did
+they take themselves off so hastily, as soon as I came in sight?"
+
+"Can't you understand that we may have something to talk about, that we
+do not wish you to hear?" asked Dietrich.
+
+The girl was silent a few moments, and then she said, rather seriously,
+
+"It would suit me far better, if you were not so much in company with
+those two fellows. Blasi is absolutely idle, and cannot be nice, and Jost
+is really bad; you can see that in his face. He never dares to look me
+full in the eye; he always avoids a direct glance, as if he feared that
+his eyes would betray him. I believe he is thoroughly false."
+
+"No, no, you should not judge him so harshly," said Dietrich,
+good-humoredly. "He is not what you think him; he is a good friend to me,
+and has already taught me a great deal that I should never have got at
+without his help. He is a very clever fellow."
+
+Veronica let the matter drop, but it was plain that she had not changed
+her opinion.
+
+The days grew longer and brighter. The wood was filled with sweeter
+perfumes evening after evening, as the two friends sauntered along their
+homeward path, and in each young heart the feeling grew and ripened, that
+still sweeter and more beautiful days were to come.
+
+One afternoon in May, Veronica paced leisurely along the white hill-road,
+her eyes fixed on the tall oak on the borders of the wood, which marked
+the place where the foot-path came out upon the high road. Everything was
+quiet; not a human being in sight. She reached the spot and looked
+anxiously into the wood. She listened; she peered between the trees; all
+was solitude. The tree-tops, softly murmuring, rocked gently to and fro,
+and through the branches she saw the sunset glow. For the first time, the
+young girl entered the wood alone. It was quite dark, in there. She passed
+along with rapid step, among the solemn pines, hastening faster and
+faster, as the trees seemed to draw together about her. When she came out
+upon the open pathway, she saw Dietrich coming across the field in hot
+haste. He was breathless when he reached her.
+
+"I don't like to have you come alone through the wood, Veronica," he said,
+"I thought I should be in time, but I could not get rid of those two
+fellows. I tried to get away two or three times, but they always had
+something more to say, and kept me."
+
+"Where were you, Dietrich?"
+
+"They had some business with me; that is, Jost had something to tell me,
+and Blasi was there too. Jost did not care to speak of it on the open
+street, and so we went into the Rehbock; and that is what made me so late.
+Why, what's the matter, Veronica? Are you ill?"
+
+She was as pale as a ghost.
+
+"What! You've been to the Rehbock, Dietrich!" she exclaimed in evident
+distress. "Oh, don't go there! Please don't go to that place again!"
+
+"Oh, now we are to have the old story over again, are we?" said the young
+man, laughing, "you have taken some foolish whim into your head; you
+really don't know why yourself. What's your prejudice against that house
+in particular?"
+
+"I do know why; and it is no whim," said Veronica, earnestly. "I will tell
+you all about it. That house has been a terror to me ever since I can
+remember anything. We were both so young that you probably do not
+recollect it at all. We both went with mother to the doctor's, but you
+didn't go into the house, I remember now. Mother told the doctor that my
+father was killed at the Rehbock. I have never forgotten it since. I am
+constantly seeing him lying dead before my eyes; lying there struck down
+dead. I often dream about it, and in my dreams I am there--and--and
+sometimes when I look at his dead form in my dreams, it is not my father
+any more, but it is you--you, Dietrich, whom they have struck down dead at
+the Rehbock."
+
+Dietrich was going to laugh at these words, but he glanced into Veronica's
+face and was silent. She was more in earnest than he had thought. He tried
+to quiet and reassure her, by saying that it was only a dream, and nothing
+to be afraid of. The dream came naturally enough, because she was always
+dwelling upon the tragedy of her father's death, and in dreams every one
+knows that faces are always changing. His explanation, however, did not
+make much impression upon Veronica. She said no more about it; but not all
+Dietrich's efforts were sufficient to chase the shadows from her face that
+evening, although he exerted himself to be even more amusing than usual.
+Gertrude observed her silence, as they sat about the table, and looked
+anxiously at her. When they had separated for the night, Dietrich went
+into his mother's room to have a talk with her. He told her what Veronica
+had said, and begged her to reason with the young girl and urge her to lay
+aside these groundless fears which had taken possession of her. He
+represented to his mother, that of course he sometimes had things to talk
+over with his companions, and that there surely was no harm in their going
+to the Rehbock together for their conversations, and he begged her to make
+Veronica see the whole affair in a reasonable light. Gertrude was shocked
+to find that the child had heard and understood what she had said to the
+doctor, and distressed that she had taken it so much to heart. She
+promised to speak to Veronica, but she also cautioned her son against
+forming an intimacy with Jost and Blasi. Dietrich cheerfully gave his
+word; declaring that he was not particularly fond of their company. The
+mother, however, on further consideration, decided to say nothing on the
+subject to Veronica, for she thought the whole thing would be the sooner
+forgotten if not spoken of, and she believed it unwise to stir up the
+terrors of the past.
+
+The next afternoon, Dietrich left home much earlier than usual, determined
+not to be belated again, and hoping to escape altogether his too insistent
+companions. But scarcely had he reached the garden gate when he came upon
+Blasi, who was lying in wait for him. Dietrich tried to pass him quickly,
+and to show him that his company was not desired, but in vain Blasi had
+not been waiting round half an hour to be turned off like that. He
+explained that he was in worse trouble than ever to-day, and wished to
+borrow more money than ever before; promising, of course, to pay it back
+very soon; "that is, as soon as possible," he added.
+
+"Oh yes, well, when will it be possible, I wonder. How much have you paid
+me back, as yet, since you began to borrow of me?" said Dietrich angrily.
+"Let me go, Blasi, I've no time to spare."
+
+But Blasi went along by his side, and before he had done talking, Jost
+joined them and held Dietrich fast by the other arm.
+
+"Come, come," he cried, "I have something to tell you that will make you
+open your eyes, I guess. I came in a hurry on purpose not to miss you.
+I've just come from the Rehbock, and I told them to keep the little back
+room for us, so that we can talk quietly, without danger of being
+interrupted. Come along, I say."
+
+"I will not," said Dietrich, freeing his arm from the other's detaining
+grasp. "I haven't time, and I don't believe you have anything special to
+tell me, either. I must go." And Dietrich strode away; but Jost followed
+him.
+
+"Don't be such a fool," he called out angrily, "can't you listen when I
+tell you that I know something decidedly to your advantage. Something that
+you'll be glad to know. You are running away because of her, and it is
+something that will be good for her as well as for you. So do stand still,
+and don't go scampering off as if the gamekeepers were after you!" But
+Dietrich did not stop.
+
+"What do you know about her, or her good?" he asked furiously. "Mind your
+own business and let us alone."
+
+As Jost had his own interest in winning the young fellow over, he
+controlled himself, and said in most soothing tones,
+
+"Dietrich, I am your friend. Some day you will be very grateful to me. As
+you are in such a hurry, I will not stop you now; only promise me to come
+over bye-and-bye for a few minutes to the Rehbock; there's a good fellow,
+and you will not be sorry. Will you come?"
+
+"Well, I've no particular objection to that," said Dietrich, and ran off
+as fast as he could.
+
+Blasi, who had kept pace with the other two, seeing that there was no
+chance for him now, turned back with Jost, and the two went into the
+Rehbock together.
+
+Dietrich met Veronica quite the other side of the wood. He did his best to
+rouse her from her silent mood, and to restore her to better spirits; but
+he found it impossible to efface the impression she had received the
+evening before. The painful memory had been too deeply stamped upon her
+mind, to be easily wiped out.
+
+When the little family had bade each other good-night, after their usual
+affectionate conversation, Dietrich hesitated about keeping his half-made
+promise. He did not want to go; yet Jost's words, that the affair touched
+her as nearly as it did him, had made their intended impression, and
+though it went sadly against his grain to know that Jost dared even to
+think about Veronica and her interests at all, still he could not help
+wondering what it was all about. Suddenly his resolution was taken; he
+turned about, went down stairs and softly left the house.
+
+Jost was standing in the doorway of the Rehbock, looking out into the
+night to see if Dietrich was coming. They went at once into the little
+back room. Blasi was there, sitting behind a big empty bowl; indeed he
+never sat long behind a full one, for as the bowl was there to be emptied
+he thought the quicker it was done the better.
+
+"I'm glad you have come," he cried out, "for we've run quite dry here."
+
+Dietrich perceived that he was expected to counteract the dryness; so he
+ordered some beer, and when this was supplied Jost began in a cautious
+tone,
+
+"I have something to say to you, Dietrich, that I don't care for those
+outside to hear. Blasi can stay, because he is our comrade."
+
+"And because he can be made useful," said Dietrich readily, for he knew of
+old that Jost was in the habit of rushing Blasi forward, where he did not
+dare to go himself.
+
+"I don't know about that," said Jost, "but now listen to me. Do you know
+how a fellow who hasn't so much as a penny in his purse, can in one night
+get enough to build a big stone house, like the one the landlord of the
+lion has in Fohrensee, and make himself a gentleman all at once? I know
+how; I know somebody who has explained it all to me, and I tell you,
+Dietrich, you have only to say the word, and you can do the same, and give
+up the whole saddler's business. You can afford to risk something; you're
+not stupid; and with you it will all go right in a twinkling."
+
+"Do you mean by card-playing?" asked Dietrich rather contemptuously, for
+he had made up his mind about that long ago.
+
+"No indeed, something very different. It is done on paper. You have
+nothing to do but put some money down, and you can win two or three times
+as much in no time."
+
+"And lose _four_ times, I suppose?"
+
+"There's no losing about it;" said Jost confidently, "You're sure to win
+in the end, if you keep on long enough. It doesn't signify if you do lose
+a little at first--you can afford to wait."
+
+"I think my trade is surer of winning;" said Dietrich.
+
+"Oh yes, sure enough!" said Jost scornfully. "It is a pretty sight to see
+a fellow like you, sitting there year after year on the saddler's bench,
+scraping all the skin off his hands; and with all the income you have,
+too! why in ten years you won't have as much as will build you a house
+such as you want, and it would take ten years more to become a gentleman;
+and she'd like it a great deal better to have something nice now, and not
+wait till she is fifty years old."
+
+Dietrich was red with anger.
+
+"What business is it of yours to be forever thinking and talking about
+her?" he blazed out. "You have no concern with her whatever; just keep
+yourself to what you're fit for."
+
+"Why do go on as you do?" asked Jost with a knowing wink. "Do you suppose
+it never enters anybody's head to ask why you keep on working and delving
+as if you liked it? Can't we guess who you're doing it all for?"
+
+"And it's not at all out of the way to be thinking about her, either,"
+interposed Blasi, "there's another ready enough to do that if there were
+any chance for him," and he winked significantly at Jost. Jost took no
+notice of the insinuation, but went on, addressing himself to Dietrich.
+
+"There's no danger for you in this plan. We will share losses and gains
+alike, and if we do not like it we can leave off when ever we choose. But
+I don't see why we shouldn't like it, when we can earn so much with so
+little trouble, and without working from morning till night. There goes
+somebody now, who has all he wants, I should like to be in his place!"
+
+A wagon was rattling by as he spoke, and its occupant was urging the
+galloping horse faster and faster along the road.
+
+"That's the doctor," said Dietrich, looking out; "he has had to work hard
+enough and is still at it. He must be going to visit a very sick patient;
+he would not be driving at that rate for anything else. It is late for the
+old gentleman to be out."
+
+"Work!" said Jost, "well, I speak for that kind of work; sitting in a
+chaise behind a horse. It's another part of speech to have to work with
+one's hands, as we do."
+
+"The doctor has to work with his hands too, I'm sure of that. And besides,
+we have our evenings to ourselves, while he may be kept at it till eleven
+o'clock at night, as he is this evening, and later."
+
+"Oh drop all this stupid talk and give us an answer; yes or no. Will you
+be a fool and go on pricking your fingers over your work, or will you join
+me and have things comfortable without working at all? Anybody but you
+would be grateful to me for the chance I offer you. I came to you with it
+because of our old friendship. I know plenty of fellows who would jump at
+the chance. You can think it over till tomorrow, and then I'm sure you'll
+be glad to accept. I'll meet you here to-morrow evening, and bring some
+one with me who will explain it all clearly."
+
+Dietrich agreed to think about it till to-morrow, and now, in high
+good-humor and increasing confidence in the coming good-fortune, he helped
+Blasi and Jost to empty the bowl, in a toast to the success of their new
+projects.
+
+It was Veronica's habit to work on her embroidery for some time after
+going up to her bedroom, and this evening she was so much interested in
+her work, that she did not observe the flight of time, until she heard the
+clock strike one. She put by her sewing, and hastened to prepare for bed,
+as she must be up and stirring again by five o'clock. Presently she heard
+the outer door opened softly, and then closed from the inside. She blew
+out her light and gently opened her bed-room door. The moon lighted up the
+passageway with a faint beam. Some one came stealing up the staircase with
+noiseless steps. She saw that it was Dietrich. He went cautiously into his
+room and closed his door.
+
+Veronica shut her door, and sat down upon her bed. All the blood seemed to
+rush to her heart and she could not stir. She knew in a moment that
+Dietrich, whom she had believed to be asleep long ago, had been visiting
+in secret the hated Rehbock. She sat some minutes motionless on her bed,
+in a kind of dull pain. Then she arose slowly, lighted her lamp again,
+took out her work and with nervous fingers drove on her needle, which flew
+faster and faster through the white cloth. She did not sleep at all that
+night.
+
+Nor did Dietrich fall asleep easily. His thoughts were busy and he could
+not come to any decision. What should he do?
+
+If he could become rich at once, without working any more, why shouldn't
+he do it? Would it be best to consult his mother? No, that would upset
+everything. He was sure that his mother was too firmly wedded to the old
+ideas about ways of getting a living, to listen to any new-fangled methods
+of making money without work.
+
+And Veronica?
+
+Certainly not Veronica, who valued work above everything, and who indeed
+loved it so well, that she could not imagine that any one should ever wish
+to escape it.
+
+But if he were successful, both his mother and Veronica would profit by
+his good fortune as much as himself. Why couldn't he go on with his own
+plans in his own way? Why need he ask leave of Veronica?
+
+Before he slept, Dietrich had decided to meet Jost the next evening, and
+close with his offer.
+
+When Gertrude came down stairs early in the morning, she found the
+breakfast ready, and Veronica dressed to go out.
+
+"Wait just a moment," said the mother, "Dietrich will be down directly; I
+hear him coming."
+
+"I must be off," replied Veronica. She went towards the door, but turned
+before going out. Her cheeks were flaming.
+
+"Mother," she said, and her voice trembled, "in God's name, forbid him to
+go to that dreadful place. He did not come home till one o'clock last
+night." And she vanished. Gertrude gazed after her in surprise.
+
+When Dietrich came down, he asked in his usual bright fashion, after
+Veronica, and when his mother with some anxiety told him what the girl had
+said, he made his explanation with such a frank, unembarrassed manner,
+that her fears were quieted; for it was plain that he had nothing upon his
+conscience. He said that he knew his mother would approve of his helping a
+friend in need, and not the less if in so doing he should also help
+himself. It was a scheme of this kind that he had been talking over, the
+night before. Jost had to work very hard to make both ends meet, and
+Dietrich thought that if by putting some money into his scheme, he could
+help his old acquaintance to more profit with less labor, and at the same
+time gain by it himself, his mother would be the last to blame him.
+
+Gertrude was a soft-hearted woman. She answered her son that if there was
+nothing wrong about this business, it was certainly a good thing to help
+Jost, who had received nothing from his father, not even tools for his
+trade, and who had seemed to have everything against him.
+
+"With you it was very different, my boy," she said in conclusion. "Your
+father left you an excellent business, and if you continue to work as you
+have done, you will be very well off in a few years. How kindly the good
+God has dealt with us, my son! We may hope for many happy days together!"
+
+He agreed with her cordially, but he thought it as well not to unfold his
+plans to her any farther. He said to himself that he was not going to do
+anything wrong, certainly not; but his mother's ideas were a little
+old-fashioned, and she wouldn't understand his schemes. He would surprise
+her with his success.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+LAME SABINA GIVES GOOD ADVICE.
+
+
+Veronica's teacher, Sabina, had been a hunchback from her birth, and had
+become lame when still young; she had used crutches since she was twenty
+years old. Like many persons who suffer under physical disabilities, she
+had clever penetrating eyes, and on this day, she often raised them from
+the work which she was pursuing with indefatigable industry, to glance at
+her pupil, who sat opposite. Veronica was at work on the same piece which
+she had had at home on the previous night, that night which she had
+passed in such sad forbodings.
+
+After many inquiring glances, Sabina at last said thoughtfully:
+
+"I'm puzzled about you, Veronica. That piece of work you are upon, is
+wonderfully well done; every stitch is perfectly even, the cloth and the
+silk are as white as snow; yet you must have done most of it at night, for
+yesterday afternoon you were not nearly so far along. Whatever you put
+your hand to, succeeds. Yet your eyebrows grow more and more scowling
+every day, and your eyes blaze out as if there were a thunder-storm about.
+What ails you, child? You are the handsomest girl in all the country round
+when you have a pleasant expression; and you are as tall and straight as
+a young fir-tree. Don't you know that?"
+
+"What good does it do me?" asked Veronica, and scowled worse than ever.
+
+"What good? if you did not have it you would know what it is worth,"
+replied Sabina, quickly. "I can tell you that. Now smooth your forehead,
+Veronica, and listen to me. I will tell you something that will make you
+feel better and happier. An Industrial School has been established in
+Fohrensee and it is proposed to connect with it a work-room for women.
+They want a teacher and superintendent, and have offered me the place, but
+I am not strong enough for it. I have told them that you are fully equal
+to me in skill and knowledge of the work, and a hundred times my superior
+in freshness and strength and executive ability. There is no doubt that
+the place is at your disposal. You can lead the life of a lady, Veronica.
+Your fortune is made."
+
+For the first time since Sabina began to speak, Veronica raised her eyes
+from her work. She shook her head sadly and said,
+
+"Not my fortune."
+
+"'Not my fortune!'" repeated Sabina angrily, "when I tell you this place
+is yours! Your fortune is made."
+
+"I cannot grasp the fortune that is offered me," said the girl, and bent
+over her work again.
+
+Sabina's searching glance seemed to try to penetrate her inmost thought.
+
+"What sort of an expression is that you are using, Veronica? Where did you
+learn that? I never expected to hear such words from your lips. It is not
+like you. What put that into your head, child?"
+
+"I will tell you something of my experience, and then you will understand
+why I use this expression," said Veronica quietly. "When I was only a
+little girl I learned a motto which ran thus:
+
+    'Fortune stands ready, full in sight;
+     He wins, who knows to grasp it right.'
+
+I saw that 'fortune' was something good to have, and I wanted to find out
+how it could be grasped. I asked Cousin Judith, and she told me it must be
+grasped like everything else with our hands, that is to say, through work.
+From that time forward I was eager for work as other children are for
+play, and the older I grow, the more I strive for the good fortune that
+can be grasped by work. Even on Sundays I often go to my room to sew, and
+I shut my door, for my mother does not like to see me sew then. I work on
+and on, just as long as I can sit at it, even into the night; sometimes
+till one and two o'clock in the morning; yet I do not find the fortune I
+want. When my hands are busy, my thoughts wander where they will, and I
+must follow them. But they do not lead to 'fortune,' but only farther away
+from it. This offer may bring me a fortune in money and position, but that
+is not the fortune I want. 'Fortune' for me, means happiness."
+
+Sabina had not lost a word of this sad story.
+
+"Yes, yes, I understand you, Veronica," she said sympathizingly. "I know
+something of this too. Judith told you the truth, but only one half the
+truth. Fortune is grasped by the hands, it is true; but the Fortune which
+you long for, that is, Happiness, is to be gained in other ways besides. I
+will tell you an instructive little story, and if you will take the
+trouble to grasp it, not with your hands, but with your thoughts and
+understanding, you will be able to work it out for yourself and get some
+profit from it. It is part of the story of my own life. I have had so much
+the same experience as yours that I cannot help hoping that what I found
+good for myself, may prove good for you."
+
+"When I was about your age, Veronica, I was so unhappy that I cried myself
+to sleep every night. Can you guess why? No, for one understands only the
+sufferings that he has himself experienced, and cannot imagine those of
+others. Well, it was because I was a hunchback! I remember as if it were
+yesterday, when I first came to a perception of my misfortune; when I
+first learned that I was different from other children, and must remain as
+one apart, all my life. We were all coming out of school one day, and a
+little quarrel arose between us children, and one of them said to me in a
+scornful tone, 'Hold your tongue, Sabina, you're only a hunchback.' From
+that day I never knew a happy moment, and I grew timid and avoided every
+one; if I saw any one looking at me, I thought he was scoffing at me
+because I was a hunchback. I kept away from other children, for if one of
+them laughed, I fancied she was laughing at my deformed shoulders. If any
+stranger was kind to me, I thought that it was because my hunch had not
+yet been seen, and that as soon as it was, kindness would be changed for
+contempt. I looked at the figure of every one I met; all were straight
+except myself. I felt that I was the most miserable creature in the world,
+and I saw no hope of ever being otherwise all my life long. Once one of
+the school children died, and all her schoolmates walked in the funeral
+procession to the church. I would not walk with them, but hid myself among
+the grown people; for every one was looking at the children and I wanted
+to escape observation. I heard one woman say to another: 'It is lucky the
+child's mother has so much to do; she will have no time to think about her
+sorrow, and she will get over it the sooner,' Then it came to me like a
+ray of hope, that if I had work to do, I might forget my sorrow too. I
+must have work. That very day I begged my mother to let me learn to work.
+She was pleased, and sent me to take lessons in sewing, and I followed it
+up till I could do all sorts of fine work, and had as much employment as I
+could wish. I often heard people say, 'How finely Sabina is getting on!'
+But how do you think it was with my spirits? Just as it is with yours now,
+Veronica. Oh yes, you needn't look at me so with your great eyes. I know
+exactly what you are thinking. You think that my trouble never can have
+been equal to yours. People always think that their own sorrows are the
+worst. I sat and sewed just as you do--early and late; my work was
+perfect; I had no rival. I knew that it was good, and I rejoiced over it
+in a half-hearted way; but what good did it do me after all? The thought
+that I was a hunchback, was always in my mind. It was like a stream of
+troubled water flowing through my heart; it spoiled everything. 'Always
+deformed, never like other girls,' I never forgot it for a moment. So it
+went on till I was about twenty years old, and then came on the trouble in
+my foot, and I was confined to my bed for many months. Oh! how bitterly I
+suffered! Was every misfortune to fall on me alone?' I thought. How could
+I foresee that this very trouble would turn out to be good fortune for
+me?"
+
+"The doctor came to see me constantly; he took as much interest in my case
+as if I could have paid him handsomely.
+
+He noticed that I was industrious, that I did not lie idle even when I was
+in great pain. It pleased him to find me always with work in my hand. When
+at last the acute attack was over, and the doctor told me that this would
+be his last visit, he told me also that I was lame for life. At first I
+could not walk at all; but bye and bye I learned to use my crutches. When
+I offered the doctor the money that was due him for his attendance, he
+said we would not speak of that; that we both had to work, but with this
+difference, that he was sound and whole, while I was not. He took my hand
+kindly, saying that it was hard for me not to be able to take any
+amusement after working hard all the week; not to go out with the others
+on Sunday; and that if I cared for reading, his wife had a great many nice
+books which she would be glad to lend me, and they would make the Sundays
+less tedious. I did not really care for reading; I preferred sewing as you
+do, but I accepted the doctor's offer and went to his house. His wife was
+very kind and gave me a book at once, bidding me come as soon as I had
+finished it and get another. I began to read the very next Sunday, and I
+became so deeply interested that I scarcely laid the book down all day,
+and even during the week I took it up as often as I could find a spare
+moment. It was an account of foreign countries and nations; how they
+lived, and their manners and customs. I was particularly interested to
+read about how the women were treated in different places; how in some
+countries they are sold and bartered for cattle or wool or cloth, and how
+they belong to their husbands just as if they were furniture, and their
+husbands can treat them just as they please, as we do cats or dogs. And in
+some places, it said, a wife has to be burned when her husband dies,
+because she is only a part of him and has no value of her own after his
+death. Oh! how many strange things there are in the world, to be sure! I
+became hungry and thirsty for knowledge. The doctor's wife lent me one
+book after another, and in each there was something new and wonderful. I
+learned how terrible the condition of women had been everywhere until our
+own Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, and taught that one soul was
+as much worth as another, all equal, man and woman, lord and servant; that
+every individual must be free, one as well as another; and that two people
+should be joined together only by love, and not as a matter of ownership.
+But even now-a-days there are still countries and islands where men make
+nothing of killing and eating each other, and the women are bought and
+sold like goods. It is only where the influence of Christianity has
+penetrated, that there is true equality of womanhood. You can imagine the
+flood of new ideas that crowded in upon me as I read, and I assure you
+that I was able to forget sometimes for many days that I was a hunchback,
+and when I did remember it, the thought had lost its sting. I dwelt upon
+the many privations and sufferings of others, till they seemed to outweigh
+my own trouble so that it dwindled in my estimation; and gradually I began
+to see the good side of my lot. How independently I could live supporting
+myself; what a wealth of interest was opened to me through my reading, and
+in fact how fortunate I was, and blessed beyond many another! Yes,
+Veronica, I can assure you that I am now a happy woman, with a heart
+filled with gratitude to the good God for the blessings he has sent me.
+And so I say to you, my child, from the fulness of my own experience, that
+you have no right to go about looking like a thunder-cloud; you with all
+the freshness and beauty of your young life!
+
+Tell me do you owe our Lord God something or is He in debt to you? Have
+you nothing to thank him for? Others can see how much you have to look
+forward to. Get yourself together, girl, and try to give your thoughts
+another direction."
+
+"I should be only too glad to do so," said Veronica, who had listened
+intently to every word that Sabina had said. "Have you any such book as
+you describe, that you can lend me to read?"
+
+Sabina was well pleased at this request. She had a book close at hand,
+which she had just finished reading, and from which she expected great
+things for the young girl. Veronica was moved by Sabina's glowing words,
+to believe that her future might be happier, and that the clouds of
+despondency which had overshadowed her, were about to be dispersed.
+
+She lost no time, for she was in earnest. She opened the book that very
+evening, and began to read. But her sanguine expectations were not
+fulfilled. She read the words, she understood their meaning; but it was as
+if she heard them at a distance and through them all, louder than all
+else, sounded something in her ears and in her heart that drowned them. It
+was the flow of the troubled waters, as Sabina had said. The waves rose
+higher; their noise increased, until Veronica lost all hearing and
+understanding of what she was reading. Still she persevered; perhaps
+bye-and-bye it would come right. Alas! was not that the house door opening
+and shutting again so softly late in the night? She flung the book aside;
+walked rapidly back and forth in her chamber for awhile, then unfolded her
+sewing, and worked steadily on and on, until the morning broke and a new
+day called her to its duties.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A THUNDER CLAP.
+
+
+Blasi, the lounger, stood in his doorway in the clear sunshine of this
+lovely summer morning, both hands plunged deep into his pockets as was his
+wont, and looked about him as if to see whether everything in the outer
+world was the same as yesterday.
+
+Judith came out to the well, carrying her water-jug on her head.
+
+"Look out, Blasi, you are losing something," she cried. Blasi looked on
+the ground, turned about, and searched behind and before.
+
+"I don't see anything," he said, and stuffed his hands deeper into his
+pockets.
+
+"It's always so with me," said Judith, "when I've lost anything, I can't
+see it."
+
+"Oh ho, you're making a fool of me again!"
+
+"That's all the thanks I get for telling you that you are losing
+something, and I was just going to make you a present that is worth more
+than five francs to a fellow like you."
+
+"What is it? Show it to me," said Blasi, with more animation.
+
+"First I will tell you something, and then you shall have it," replied
+Judith. "Look here, Blasi, my sainted father used to say, "If you keep
+your hands out of your pockets they will get full, but if you keep them
+in, your pockets will be empty." Now, both your hands are in your
+pockets, so all that ought to go in is running to waste. Isn't that so?"
+
+"Well, suppose it is," said Blasi, angrily. "Now give me what you promised
+me."
+
+"I gave it to you this very minute. I said you'd better take your hands
+out of your pockets, and then your earnings would run in. That's good
+advice and worth more than five francs.
+
+"What stuff! No one ever knows how to take you," grumbled Blasi.
+
+"It wouldn't help you to take me, if you did not take your hands out too,"
+said Judith, "but never mind, I have really something good for you," and
+Judith motioned to him to come nearer. "Would you like to have a nice
+well-washed shirt for Sunday? I will do one up for you if you will tell me
+something."
+
+That was an offer worth listening to. Sunday was a wretched day for Blasi,
+for when he had turned his two shirts and worn them both on both sides, he
+had never a clean one for Sunday. He had no one to wash for him. His
+mother was dead, and his father had enough else to spend for, without the
+washing for a grown-up son. Blasi's money went for other things than
+washing, and he was not fond of doing it for himself.
+
+The proposition was therefore very apropos. "Come a little nearer to the
+well; no one knows who may be behind those trees. Now listen; Can you tell
+me what is going wrong with Dietrich? He never whistles now, he never
+laughs, and his mother looks so sad, and she rarely speaks even to answer
+when spoken to. Something has happened to Dietrich."
+
+"Yes, and keeps on happening; all sorts of things, too. But Jost can tell
+you more than I can. They sit together in the Rehbock half the night and
+more, too; long after everybody else has gone, there they sit in the
+little back room. At first they do just as other people do, they drink a
+little and then a little more, and Dietrich pays. But that's nothing to
+what it costs him afterwards. They do something with paper, he and Jost.
+Sometimes it is a lottery and then again something that they call
+speculating. I don't understand anything about it. Somebody comes over
+from Fohrensee and explains it to them. He does not belong there; but I
+guess you have seen him; he has fiery red hair, and red beard and red
+face. He has business in Fohrensee once a week, and lives the rest of the
+time down in the city; and he arranges everything down there, and then
+brings the account of gains and losses up to them; but it's a good deal
+more loss than gain. Dietrich puts in more money every time. Jost has
+nothing to put in but promises. He tells Dietrich all the time that
+presently the winnings will begin to flow in, and says that at first a
+fellow must expect to lose, so as to win all the more in the end, and that
+bye-and-bye it will all come back; with interest, of course. The
+red-haired man says yes to it all. Whenever I want to put something in,
+and ask Dietrich to lend me a little to try with, Jost acts as if he were
+the lord and master of the whole concern, and 'donkey' is the mildest name
+he calls me. I am just waiting though, till I can trip him up, and I'll
+do it with a vengeance too, so that he won't forget it all his life long."
+
+"Now that is a good idea," said Judith. "You'd better tell him then, that
+you do it to pay your debts, and that it would be well for him to follow
+your example. Now you have told me enough. Bring me your shirt on
+Saturday, and I'll wash it for you."
+
+Judith lifted her water-jug and was turning away, but Blasi detained her.
+
+"Just wait one moment, I want to ask you a question. Do you think she will
+have him?"
+
+The question seemed to interest Judith, for she stood stock still.
+
+"Who? whom? what do you mean?"
+
+"I mean Veronica and Jost. Do you think she will take him?" As Blasi
+spoke he came slowly nearer to Judith. "He has been saying some things
+lately, that made me think so."
+
+"If you know anything more stupid than that, I should like to hear it,"
+cried Judith very angry indeed; but she did not move away, for she wanted
+to hear all that Blasi had to say.
+
+"I know what you mean," he went on, "but I am not so very stupid as you
+think. It certainly means something, when she is so changed. Jost says
+that she knows all that Dietrich has been about, and she is hot with anger
+against him because he has not told her about it himself. Jost says that
+if he only mentions Dietrich's name before her she looks like a wild-cat
+in a moment, and he says too that he has noticed for some time, that she
+has no objection to letting Dietrich see that she can get along very well
+without his help, and you know that she is capable of anything when she's
+angry."
+
+"Well, this was the one drop wanting!" said Judith, and shouldering her
+jug she went off, snorting with anger, in such a rage that Blasi stood
+looking after her in stupid amazement, and muttered,
+
+"I wonder if she wants to get him, too!"
+
+Judith walked along, talking aloud to herself,
+
+"Yes, she is! she is! she is capable of anything when she is angry!"
+
+Now Judith had looked upon her neighbor's boy from his childhood up, as if
+he belonged to her. He was her prime, favorite and she meant to do well by
+him. She liked Veronica because she was such a steady girl at her needle,
+and because she would have nothing to say to any one but Dietrich. This
+very reserve however, was rather distasteful to Judith as regarded
+herself, but she liked it towards others. She had planned it all out that
+Dietrich should marry Veronica soon after the confirmation, that they
+should set up a pretty little establishment, and be her beloved neighbors.
+She meant to be their intimate friend and helper, to go freely in and out
+of their house, and to stand god-mother now and then. She would leave her
+property to the little ones. Now all this fine air-castle was overthrown
+and all her plans spoiled. Judith bounced violently into the kitchen and
+set her jug down with such a bang that the water spurted up into the air.
+
+"And no one can get a word out of her, either; it is exactly as if all the
+oil had been burned out." This last remark referred to Gertrude, who had
+greatly altered during the last few months. She had no longer the cheerful
+expression that she had always been noted for. She had grown very quiet
+and silent. She even avoided her old and well-tried friend Judith, and if
+the latter showed a disposition to talk about her household matters or her
+children's future, Gertrude would give her to understand that she had no
+time to stop to talk.
+
+Gertrude knew where Dietrich spent his evenings. She had expostulated with
+him about it more than once. He had answered that he must keep on there
+for awhile, till a certain undertaking which he had started with Jost was
+fairly under way. He assured her that this affair was certain to turn out
+all right, and that she herself would be surprised and satisfied at the
+result. He knew from some one who understood it, that it could not fail.
+He had to draw large sums several times for himself and also for Jost, but
+he was sanguine that in a short time it would all be paid back, with
+interest. Gertrude did not pretend to understand the business, but she saw
+that Dietrich believed it to be safe and profitable, and she knew that her
+son would not deceive her. Still she was haunted daily by a growing
+uneasiness, which was not diminished when she perceived that Veronica was
+gradually drawing away from her.
+
+This state of things had all come about since that morning when the
+girl's beseeching words had fallen unheeded on the mother's ears; or at
+least Veronica believed them to have been unheeded, since they had worked
+no change in Dietrich's behavior.
+
+Why it was that every day as evening came on, she felt so miserably
+anxious, Gertrude herself could scarcely understand. Poor Gertrude!
+
+One night after she had gone to her room she heard her son leave the house
+with hasty steps. It had become a regular thing now. She had often said to
+herself, "Ah! how much longer will this go on?" but she tried hard to
+believe that it would soon come to an end, and her son would resume his
+former orderly and happy mode of life. But this evening she was so
+anxious that she could not stay in her bedroom. She went down into the
+garden.
+
+The moon peeped out from between the flying clouds, and shone peacefully
+down upon the trees and the neat flower-beds. Gertrude seated herself upon
+a small bench under the apple tree, and gazed about the garden, all
+illuminated by the moonbeams. She had planted it all and cared for it with
+her own hands. She had done this as she did everything, carefully and with
+great painstaking, and it was all for her son's sake. His should be the
+pleasure and the profit of all. Why could he not be happy in it now? Why
+was she so worried about him? Dietrich was walking in steep and dangerous
+paths; that she was sure of, but he knew the straight road and would not
+his steps turn back to it again? Her thoughts went back to the days when
+her little Dieterli loved good and orderly conduct; it could not be that
+he had lost his love for it, that he did not still feel that in the right
+conduct of life lies inward and outward blessing. She recalled the evening
+of the day when her husband was borne from the house to his burial. She
+had taken the children by the hand and, stupefied with pain, was about to
+put them to bed, but Dieterli objected, saying,
+
+"No, mother, no; it is not good to go to bed before you say your prayers."
+
+Did her boy ever pray now? "Oh, Dieterli, my son, you are wandering away,
+but you know the way home," she said to herself, and she folded her hands
+in prayer, for her habit was to lay all her troubles before God, her
+Supporter and Comforter.
+
+At this moment, she heard through the stillness loud shouts and cries,
+first at a distance, then nearer and nearer, until they grew into a wild
+tumult. Then many of the voices seemed to scatter in different directions
+while some sounded as if approaching the garden. A vague fear seized
+Gertrude. Three fellows shouting and calling, passed on the other side of
+the hedge; she recognized one of the voices.
+
+"Jost," she cried feebly, "Jost, what is it? where is Dietrich?"
+
+There was no answer; Jost did not or would not, hear. He ran faster than
+before, and the second fellow ran too. The last one paused a little; it
+was Blasi. He said hastily:
+
+"He isn't coming yet awhile. You can go to bed;" and was making off.
+
+"Oh do tell me what has happened," said Gertrude, white with terror.
+"Don't leave me so, but tell me, Blasi, why Dietrich hasn't come home with
+the rest of you?"
+
+Blasi had too much respect for Dietrich's mother to run away from her when
+she put a direct question to him, although he would fain have escaped. He
+came close to the hedge, and replied,
+
+"There has been a row at the Rehbock. Two men were killed. Some one stole
+the cattle dealer's money bag--"
+
+"Is Dietrich killed? Speak out!" broke in Gertrude, trembling.
+
+"No; he struck about him bravely, till one of the fellows got enough of
+it, and lay dead on the ground; and then he made off."
+
+With this Blasi ran on.
+
+Gertrude mounted wearily to her room as if her last day was come. She sat
+down upon her bed, and when the morning light filled the room, still she
+sat there listening in trembling anxiety, as she had listened through all
+the long night; in vain. Dietrich had not come home in the night; he did
+not come in the morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+EACH ONE ACCORDING TO HIS KIND.
+
+
+In all Tannenegg and Fohrensee, nothing was talked of but the affair of
+the night before. Never was such excitement known. In every house, at
+every corner, in all the roads, groups of people stood talking it over;
+each telling what he knew.
+
+Everyone asked questions, and no one listened to the answers. Such a fight
+at the Rehbock! It began over the card-table. The cattle-dealer from
+Fohrensee was on his way home with his bag full of money, when he stopped
+in at the Rehbock, and joined the game. When the dispute broke out, his
+big fists took their share in the fray. Not until two of the party lay for
+dead on the ground, did the brawling cease and the combatants begin to
+cool. Then the cattle-dealer discovered that his bag full of gold was
+gone, and raised a fearful alarm.
+
+Then the red-haired man from Fohrensee shouted into the midst of the
+excited crowd,
+
+"Don't let any one get away. Run after them! That's the only way to find
+out the thief!"
+
+This man had not taken part in the fight, but had mixed with the crowd,
+trying to pacify them, and to restore quiet.
+
+His advice was useless. A good many had already gone. First of all,
+Dietrich had disappeared; then several fellows ran after him, and then
+all the rest went together.
+
+On the way home, Jost had told his companions that Dietrich had made off
+with himself, and that he, Jost, had told him when he saw him going that
+there was doubtless good reason for his wishing to be out of the way. But
+in truth Jost had not said any such thing to Dietrich!
+
+One of the men had run at once for the doctor, and the doctor had come in
+the night to the Rehbock, and had found that the two men were not dead
+after all. So he had given orders that they should be let alone till they
+had slept off the effect of their carouse.
+
+In the morning, all those who had been at the Rehbock the night before,
+were called together; and every one denied stoutly having any knowledge
+of the cattle-dealer's money, and all were ready to be searched in proof
+of their innocence. Dietrich alone was not there; he had vanished, no one
+knew whither. Some one whispered, and then it was softly repeated, then
+louder and louder, that Dietrich would not have taken himself off if he
+had had a clear conscience; and although nobody seriously believed
+Dietrich capable of a disgraceful act, yet after awhile it seemed to grow
+more likely, especially when it became known that he had lost a great deal
+of money in betting and gambling, and was unable to pay back what he had
+lost. And many shook their heads and said, "How easy it is for a man to be
+drawn into evil ways if he once begins to go down hill!"
+
+Where Dietrich had gone, was now the important question. No trace of him
+had been discovered from the moment of his disappearance. The
+cattle-dealer left no stone unturned to find him, but he could get no clue
+to his whereabouts. He had entered complaints against Dietrich, and hoped
+that the hands of the law would succeed in getting track of him. But it
+was all in vain. Gradually, no one knew how, a report got about that
+Dietrich had fled to Australia, and would never come back. Little by
+little every one came to believe it.
+
+Except one. One single person in all Tannenegg was bold enough to swim
+against this stream of suspicion. This was Judith. Not timidly and in
+secret, but aloud, at all times and in all places, she declared decidedly,
+
+"There's not one word of truth in what you all say. It's a lie from
+beginning to end. Dietrich has no more stolen than I have, and I needn't
+say more than that. I'll ferret this thing out, till I find the true
+culprit, or my name's not Judith."
+
+The first thing to do was to get a clear account of the whole affair; for
+although she had already heard it told a dozen times, it had always been
+among other people, who were continually interrupting and asking
+questions, and were too anxious to hear the end, to wait for the full
+account of the beginning. So she decided to apply to Blasi, who, as he had
+been on the spot, must know all about it. But she had to hunt him up; for
+since that unlucky evening he had kept himself out of sight. She placed
+her bucket under the spout at the well, and then took a turn about the
+kitchen garden behind the sexton's cottage. Blasi stood in the back
+doorway, just as he was in the habit of standing in the front doorway,
+only instead of holding his face up as if to catch any agreeable odors
+that might be floating about, he stood to-day with drooping head, gazing
+sadly at the uncared-for garden.
+
+"What's amiss, Blasi?" asked Judith, sharply, coming upon him before he
+was aware of her approach.
+
+"Nothing; if you know of anything we will share it," said Blasi sullenly.
+
+"Well, perhaps I know something that it would not be a bad thing for you
+to share with me. Perhaps it's worth while for some one who has learned it
+by the sweat of her brow, to tell you that vegetables can be made to grow
+in a garden, instead of nettles, which you seem to cultivate."
+
+"I don't care what grows anywhere; one thing is as good as another to me,
+now that Dietrich has gone. There's nothing to do in the evening now. I've
+half a mind to go after him."
+
+"Go where? do you know where he is?"
+
+"I don't, myself, but Jost does, and I know that Jost is expecting to hear
+from him. Though he does call me stupid, I have my eye on him," said
+Blasi, with angry emphasis. "And I know it was Jost who advised Dietrich
+to run away and hide, though he didn't mean to let me know. Oh, I'm no
+fool!"
+
+Judith nodded assentingly, as if Blasi's information confirmed her own
+suspicions.
+
+"Here, Blasi, here's a little something for you. Now I want you to tell me
+exactly how this thing happened, from the very beginning; and don't leave
+out a single thing. I want to hear the whole story, connectedly."
+
+"You may be sure I will," said Blasi, weighing the silver piece which
+Judith had given him affectionately in his hand. "You see they were all
+together in the little back room at first; the red-haired man and Jost and
+Dietrich, and when I went in I noticed at once that something had happened
+that our two didn't like; for Dietrich sat with his elbows on the table
+and his head in his hands, and Jost was swearing roundly. Presently Jost
+said, 'We will double our bets, Dietrich, and perhaps the luck will turn.'
+Dietrich, only groaned. Then the red-haired fellow said, 'Come, let's go
+down and play cards with the cattle-dealer, and take a glass of something
+that will raise your spirits.'"
+
+"Dietrich never used to gamble; nor to drink when he was not thirsty;"
+cried Judith angrily.
+
+"Pooh! When every one is playing cards, a fellow can't hold off and say he
+won't join, and as for the drink, Dietrich has washed down a good deal of
+vexation with it lately, and he took it powerfully too, I can tell you.
+Well, the play began, and it went on fast. I noticed that the red man
+looked mightily pleased, and urged them all on, and the louder the
+cattle-dealer scolded, the more the red man filled up his glass. When the
+quarrel came to blows, I heard the red-head call out to the
+cattle-dealer, 'Come over here, you'll soon silence them,' So he kept
+exciting him, and he struck out well with his great fists. The red-head
+mixed in the crowd, and stuck close to the cattle-dealer, but he never
+struck a blow himself; of course not, such a gentleman as he is! I did not
+see Dietrich knock the Fohrensee fellow down, but just when the storm was
+most furious, I saw Dietrich run out, and Jost after him, and I thought I
+saw Jost give Dietrich something. I ran out after them, and I heard Jost
+advising Dietrich to make off as fast as he could, and send him word where
+he hid himself. When I came up to them, Jost pushed me back; I couldn't
+get a word with Dietrich, who ran right off, and Jost pulled me into the
+house. There the noise was increasing every minute, for the cattle-dealer
+had discovered that his money-bag was gone, and red-head screamed out like
+a mad-man, that nobody must get away, and everybody must be searched. When
+they found that Dietrich had gone, the cattle-man started off after him,
+and some others too, and then they all broke up. Now you know all that I
+know. Nothing else happened; except that I went for the doctor, who said
+the two men were not dead. When Jost tells Dietrich that, why, there's
+nothing to prevent his coming back. That is, unless there's something
+else."
+
+"What do you mean by 'something else'?" said Judith sharply. "But
+there--you're all alike. One repeats what another has said, till you all
+get to saying the same thing and then of course you believe it. A nice
+set of friends you are--the whole of you. I mean to stir up the ground
+under you all until I find out where the truth is. Then you can begin to
+stare with the others, you blind mole!" and Judith suddenly walked off as
+if the earth were burning beneath her angry feet.
+
+Blasi understood neither her words nor her anger. He looked after her,
+shook his head rather sadly, and said to himself,
+
+    "Women folk are a very foolish folk."
+
+Home sped the "foolish" Judith; put on her Sunday garments and started on
+her journey. If ever she had a project in her head, she did not wait till
+to-morrow to put it into execution. And to-day she was bent on giving the
+cattle dealer a piece of her mind. She paused a moment when she came to
+Gertrude's house, then went on her way, saying half aloud,
+
+"No, I'll say nothing to her, since she says nothing to me. If 'mum's' the
+word I can use it as well as she."
+
+Judith was pained that Gertrude had not from the beginning talked with her
+of her troubles, for Judith was one who liked to give and receive
+sympathy. Veronica too was much too reticent to please her kind-hearted
+neighbor who could never get a word with her about what was going on.
+Veronica and Gertrude were both very silent by nature, about anything that
+touched them deeply, especially in sorrow. On the first day after the
+terrible blow that had befallen them, they talked it all over, and wept
+together, to ease their hearts of the first misery. Then Gertrude said,
+
+"Dietrich has sinned and he must make atonement, but he has not stolen; I
+am sure that my son is not a thief." And Veronica had responded promptly,
+
+"If every one in the whole world said that he had stolen that money, I
+should not listen; for I know he is no thief."
+
+As soon as it became known that Dietrich was gone, letters and bills came
+pouring in upon the poor widow. Her son had borrowed large sums of money
+and had lost even more at play. She soon found that not only all her
+husband's savings, but also the house and the business were deeply
+encumbered. She talked things over with the workman who had been so many
+years in her employ and asked if he would help her carry on the business
+as he had done after her husband's death while Dietrich was still a child.
+The man was very angry with Dietrich for having thrown away the result of
+all those years of labor, and at first refused to have anything more to do
+with the business. He yielded at last, however, to Gertrude's urgent
+request, and consented to remain with her at least till the future
+prospects of the business could be decided upon; and Gertrude agreed that
+if it should prosper she would hand it over to him, in case Dietrich
+should not return within a certain time.
+
+And so the mother set herself again to her task. She worked early and
+late; she seemed to have gained new strength and courage instead of being
+crushed down by this new burden.
+
+It was curious to see how differently the two women nearest to Dietrich
+were affected by this trouble. Gertrude's countenance gradually resumed
+its customary look of cheerfulness and peace, while on Veronica's handsome
+features rested a heavy scowl which now seldom left her clouded brow. Yet
+she was almost an object of envy to all the young girls of the
+neighborhood, and no wonder; for she was an attractive sight to all eyes,
+with her neat, well-fitting clothes, that always looked new and fresh, and
+her air of strength and activity. Not a few of the strangers who came to
+Fohrensee, made inquiries about her, wondering where she could have come
+from; for they noticed the marked difference between her and the other
+women of the place. The work which passed through her hands, even if it
+were most elaborately embroidered, was never crumpled nor soiled, but
+looked as fresh as if it had not been handled at all. She could obtain any
+price she chose to set upon her work, and everything she did found ready
+sale. Moreover, she had been appointed to the place of which Sabina had
+spoken to her. She was at the head of the great Industrial School for
+women, where she received so handsome a salary, that she was in a fair way
+to the accumulation of a nice little fortune. It was common to hear it
+said of her, "She is really a lady! she can have whatever she pleases,"
+and it was often added, "If I were in her shoes, I wouldn't go about with
+a face like a thirty days' storm, as she does, when she can be a
+gentleman's wife whenever she chooses!" It had been proposed that
+Veronica should go to live in the school-buildings at Fohrensee. But she
+did not accept the offer; she could not leave her mother alone in this
+time of trouble. Every evening after her work she returned to Gertrude's
+cottage.
+
+During the long summer days it was easy for Veronica to get home before
+the twilight was over. But when the days grew shorter, dusk came on even
+before she could reach the wood. One bright Saturday afternoon, late in
+August, Veronica had delayed longer than usual in the work-room, to clear
+all away and leave things in perfect order for Sunday.
+
+She hurried up the hill road, not so much from fear of going through the
+wood alone, as from desire to spare Gertrude the anxiety of watching for
+her. Just before she reached the wood, she met Jost coming towards her. He
+held out his hand with a friendly smile, saying,
+
+"I came to meet you; I thought it would be getting too dark for you to go
+alone through the forest; I can't let you go unprotected."
+
+"You may spare yourself the pains," said Veronica shortly and crossed over
+to the other side of the road. Jost crossed too.
+
+"Veronica," he began after a little while, "it is not nice of you to treat
+me as you have done since Dietrich went off. I know as well as you do,
+that he did wrong in running away from you without letting you know where
+he went to; but he may write yet, and meantime--"
+
+"Don't say another word," interrupted Veronica; so decidedly that Jost was
+silent for awhile. She crossed the road again, and presently Jost did the
+same, and as he came up to her, he began again in a soft insinuating tone,
+
+"Don't you see Veronica, that it isn't my fault that things have taken
+this turn? I often thought of you when Dietrich was risking so much money,
+and I used to say to him "think of her," for I knew how you would feel
+about it."
+
+"Oh, you Judas!" cried Veronica, swelling with rage, and she sprang
+forward and ran on with all her might. Jost followed close at her heels.
+When she had passed through the wood, and had come out on the Tannenegg
+side, he said, in a flattering voice,
+
+"Veronica, do you see how precious you are to me? I will protect you and
+take care of you even if you do not speak one kind word to me. I shall
+come to meet you every day, for I will not allow you to go through the
+wood alone. You may meet all sorts of people there and may sometimes be
+glad of my company. Bye-and-bye you will be convinced how much I care for
+you."
+
+Veronica was now near the house. She hurried on and without once looking
+back, she sprang through the door and shut it fast behind her.
+
+"You shall be tame enough before I have done with you," muttered Jost, and
+he bit his lips until the blood came.
+
+Veronica stood still on the other side of the door until she heard his
+retreating footsteps; then she opened it and went out again. She went
+over to the sexton's house. Blasi stood in the doorway, in a despondent
+attitude, with his hands in his pockets. He was brooding over the
+melancholy reflection that he had paid away the last penny of the coin
+that Judith had given him, for last evening's glass at the Rehbock, and
+that he had no credit. He saw no glimmer of hope in the prospect before
+him, and looked disconsolately at the ground. Suddenly Veronica stood
+before him. He stared at her with surprise.
+
+"Blasi, will you do me a favor?" she asked in a friendly tone, "I will
+return it sometime when you need help."
+
+Here was an unexpected chance. He opened his eyes yet wider with delight.
+
+"Tell me what it is, Veronica," he said; "I will go through fire and
+water for you."
+
+"It is only to go through the wood for me, to-morrow evening, and every
+evening till the days grow longer again. Will you? You can have your
+evening glass afterwards at my expense."
+
+Blasi stood speechless; staring at Veronica, who waited for his answer.
+
+"Why; do you want two of us?" he said presently, "I don't see why. Jost is
+going too, for you told him to go and meet you every evening."
+
+Veronica's dark eyes flashed forth a fire that dazzled poor Blasi.
+
+"So! I told him to go, did I? Who told you such a thing as that?"
+
+"Jost said so himself at the Rehbock last evening, before a room full of
+people; and some of them said that you were going to prove that you could
+get along very well without the fellow that ran away."
+
+Veronica flushed burning red.
+
+"Tell Jost," she said, scornfully, "that if he is clever in nothing else
+he is a master liar. I would tell him myself, but I will never speak to
+him again. Will you come for me tomorrow or not, Blasi?" she had turned to
+leave him.
+
+"Why of course, if that's the way it is about Jost, I'll come. You may
+count on me," he replied gleefully. She held out her hand to him, and was
+gone.
+
+The next evening, as Blasi was walking at his ease, towards the wood, he
+met Jost hurrying along from another direction.
+
+"Where may you be going?" asked Jost peremptorily.
+
+"I am going to meet Veronica; she engaged me to," answered Blasi, not at
+all unwilling to make known his errand.
+
+"Well, you are a dunderhead to take a joke like that for sober earnest,"
+said Jost, bursting into a loud laugh. "Hadn't you sense enough to see
+that she was making a fool of you? We had a good laugh together about it
+last night, she and I, and she said she had a mind to make you go all
+winter long to Fohrensee, to fetch her; and that you would never find out
+that she was making sport of you. She seems to have made a good
+beginning."
+
+Jost laughed again immoderately, and Blasi began to waver.
+
+"If I only knew which of you was telling a lie;" he said, and stood still
+to think it over. Suddenly he started forward on the full run, for it
+occured to him that he could decide by Veronica's air when he met her,
+whether she had cheated him or not. Jost saw that Blasi was determined not
+to give up his enterprise so he turned about, and disappeared among the
+bushes; for he had no desire to have Blasi see how Veronica treated him.
+
+When Blasi met Veronica, her face had so pleasant and bright a look, that
+the lad was struck with her beauty. It was not the look of one who was
+making a fool of him. Veronica was sincere. She talked kindly with him all
+the way home, more kindly than he had ever thought she could talk, and
+when they parted, she said persuasively,
+
+"You'll come tomorrow, and every day, won't you Blasi?"
+
+Then she pressed a piece of money into his hand, and thanked him for his
+kindness so gratefully, that it seemed as if he had conferred a great
+favor on her, instead of having received payment for service rendered.
+
+As the young man turned away, a new set of ideas took possession of his
+mind. For the first time in his life, he felt a desire to use the money
+that he held in his hand, for something better than drink. He recollected
+that he had no necktie on, and he was conscious of looking slovenly and
+dirty. That was not the way for a fellow to look who was going to be seen
+walking with the pretty Veronica along the high-road. He would buy a
+neck-tie in the morning; he had money enough for that. Then his thoughts
+ran on still farther. Veronica had not spoken to him in this friendly way
+for many a long year. It was not to make fun of him, Jost was a liar as
+she had said; else why did he run away instead of going with him to meet
+her? No, he wouldn't be taken in by that fellow, any longer. As they
+walked along she had asked him all sorts of questions about himself; what
+his business was, and how he succeeded in it and so on. He had not been
+able to answer very satisfactorily about his business, for since
+Confirmation, three years before, he had only been waiting for something
+to turn up. He had had nothing to do except to ring the bell at eleven
+o'clock, and then stand in the door-way of his house until it was time to
+ring it again at four. Then towards evening he always went to the Rehbock
+to hear the news. All this appeared in a new light before his eyes, now
+that Veronica had inquired about his occupation. Then she had encouraged
+him so sympathetically to try to get something to do, and promised to be
+of service to him if she could. It was exactly as if she had an especial
+interest in his welfare. Why did she concern herself about him? Suddenly a
+light broke through his darkness.
+
+"Dietrich is gone, and is not likely to come back," he said to himself,
+"she detests Jost; and women always do the very thing you least expect
+them to; I've heard that a hundred times. She is after me! Good heavens!"
+he called out in his surprise as this idea seized him. "A fellow must
+spruce up! I will take the first step this very day."
+
+The idea which had seized Blasi's mind that he was to take Dietrich's
+place with Veronica, suggested a farther plan. He decided immediately to
+become a saddler too, and before he went into his own house, he turned
+back and sought Gertrude's garden.
+
+Gertrude's workman was walking up and down, for recreation; for he never
+went to the tavern. Blasi went to him and opened his mind; he wanted to be
+a saddler, and to learn the trade from him.
+
+The man was quite willing; he bethought himself that it would be rather an
+agreeable change to have a young fellow to talk to, instead of merely
+sitting all day by the side of the silent widow. He said he would speak to
+his employer, and Blasi could come on the morrow. He was sure she would
+agree, for she generally took his opinion about the business.
+
+"You see, Blasi," said he pompously, "if I were not there to look after
+things, they would all go to ruin. In fact there are only two ways to save
+this business; either Dietrich must come back and quickly too, and take
+hold of the business better than he ever did before, or else it must fall
+into my hands entirely, and I will take all the risks and all the
+profits."
+
+"There may be yet a third way; who knows?" said Blasi, significantly, and
+he winked so mysteriously first with one eye and then with the other, that
+the saddler said to himself, "I guess he's been at the Rehbock."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+MOTHER GERTRUDE ALSO GIVES GOOD ADVICE.
+
+
+The cold, dismal December days had come. It was always long after dark
+now, before Veronica got home; but she never had to hurry, for fear of
+going through the wood alone, for there stood Blasi always ready at the
+turf hut on the edge of Fohrensee, just where the houses ceased and it
+began to be lonely. If it was fine, he was walking up and down before the
+hut; if it stormed, he was standing under the shelter of the roof. He was
+never absent and he never came too late. Yet he was busy all day long,
+and had to run half the way to get to the hut in time. His master did not
+let him off one moment before the appointed day's work was over, Blasi's
+application to learn the saddler's trade had been favorably received by
+Gertrude and he had set to work at once. Now that he worked from morning
+till night he never had time to put his hands in his pockets, and the
+saddler kept him up to the mark, proud of showing how well he himself
+understood the business. Blasi was contented, and more than contented with
+his life; he had a new and very happy consciousness of being of use, and
+he had risen in his own estimation. He felt like a man of property, almost
+like a gentleman. By the time he had finished his day's work, and hurried
+down to Fohrensee and walked back again, he was so tired that he was
+ready to go to bed directly; he had no time nor desire to loaf. And so it
+came about that when Veronica wished to give him his piece of money every
+evening he objected; for he said he did not want to be paid; he preferred
+to have his services accepted on the ground of friendship. Veronica
+consented to accept them on that ground, but from time to time she would
+say, "Blasi, this is your birthday," or "To-day is the cherry-festival, I
+should like to make you a little present," or "I have had extra work
+to-day, and I should like to give you part of the extra pay, for if you
+had not been coming for me, I could not have waited to do it, so it is
+fairly yours;" and each time she pressed into his hand such a large piece
+of money that he soon had a considerable sum laid away. Then one day she
+gave him a silk handkerchief; and another day half-a-dozen new shirts,
+white as snow; and then again a package of handkerchiefs hemmed and ready
+for use; and all this increase of property raised his standard of living,
+and excited his ambition.
+
+The night before Christmas, Veronica was late in coming home. It was dark
+and stormy. She had been delayed at the school, making preparations for
+leaving everything in order for the holiday.
+
+When she came into the sitting-room she found her mother at work by
+lamp-light, mending a ragged old mail-bag. Advancing years had told upon
+Gertrude; and although industrious as ever, she could not work as easily
+as she once did.
+
+"Oh mother, I cannot let you do that heavy piece of work," said Veronica,
+as soon as she saw what her mother was about. "Didn't I tell you that I
+would come home in time to dress the house for Christmas, and now you have
+not only done all that, but you are at work on that old mail-bag. I can't
+bear to have you do so. Why won't you let me do something for you, and
+take a little rest yourself. You look so tired."
+
+"You need the evening to rest in too, dear child, after working steadily
+all day," said Gertrude affectionately. "And I am very glad when there is
+a piece of work like this that I can do. I want him to find everything as
+it used to be, when he comes home. I think that with care and industry I
+can manage so that I shall not be obliged to give up this house while he
+is away. I am sure it will be a great comfort to him to find that he still
+has his home. And besides I feel that it will help him to begin life anew,
+and bring him back to his old right-minded way of thinking. Oh, if he
+would only come home!"
+
+"Mother, mother, that is no reason why you should work beyond your
+strength. You have taken care of me all these long years, and now it is
+fairly my turn to take care of you. Do not worry about the house, dear; I
+have made an arrangement with the cattle-dealer. When you told me that he
+threatened to take it, I went to him and got him to let me settle with him
+instead. He was very glad that I wanted it, for he said that he didn't
+see what good it would be to him, and he gave me my time about paying for
+it."
+
+"Is that true, Veronica?" said Gertrude, and a happy smile stole over her
+face. "You do not know what a load you have taken from my heart! Oh, you
+are good and brave! If I could only see you look happy, how glad I should
+be! If I could find out how to make you happy! I would do anything in the
+world for you, if I only knew how!"
+
+"There is no use in thinking about it, mother dear. Happiness is not for
+me. It may be for others, but not for me." Veronica spoke with strong
+emotion. "I have worked and struggled for it ever since I can remember
+anything, but all in vain. Cousin Judith told me that work was the way to
+fortune, and that 'fortune' meant whatever one wanted most; and so I
+worked, always, even when I did not know what it was that I wanted most.
+Afterwards when I learned that for me happiness was the best fortune, I
+worked on, for I wanted to be happy, but I was not. I always brooded over
+my work, thinking of all the unpleasant and troublesome things that had
+happened. Then Sabina told me how, when she was terribly unhappy about her
+deformity, she had found relief in books, in reading," and Veronica went
+on to tell how Sabina had sent her delightful books and how she had tried
+to drive away her own sorrow by the new interests which she found in them.
+"But you see," she added with a sigh, "it did not help me; nothing helps
+me. When I read, I was still unhappy. What difference did it make to me,
+all that was written in the books; it did not make my troubles less. The
+old thoughts came right in and left me no peace. Even while I was reading
+I could not fix my mind on the book, and when I laid the book down, I had
+gained nothing, but was as sad and hopeless as ever. Happiness is not for
+me, and the little motto upon my rose may be true for others; it is not
+true for me. I cannot 'grasp' the only 'fortune' I care for."
+
+Veronica spoke passionately; with a vehemence that Gertrude had never
+before heard from her. Her strong, self-controlled nature had never before
+given way and found expression in words. Now the flood-gates were opened,
+the stream broke through. Gertrude was distressed at her unwonted
+emotion. "Veronica," she said, sadly and lovingly, "this pains me. I had
+no idea of your feeling; no conception of your having suffered so. You are
+always so quiet and reserved that I thought you had peace within, though
+your face is so often clouded with apparent discontent. Now I see that
+your heart is heavy. If I could only show you the way to peace--that is
+the way to happiness.
+
+The girl said nothing; she only shook her head as if to say: "Peace is not
+for me," and her eyes shone like fire with her inward excitement.
+
+"Veronica," said Gertrude presently, "to-morrow is Christmas day. Do you
+remember how when you were little children we always prayed together at
+night, and how happy you always were at Christmas, and how gladly you
+said your little prayer? Will you not pray with me now, my child, as we
+did in those dear old days?"
+
+The girl turned her face aside and wiped away her tears. "I will, mother,"
+she said, making an effort to control herself, "it will bring back those
+happy days in memory, and give you a little pleasure."
+
+She folded her hands and began to repeat the Lord's prayer. Gertrude
+followed reverently. When she reached the words, "Forgive us our
+trespasses," Veronica hid her face in her hands, and broke into violent
+sobs.
+
+"No, mother, I must not say it. I cannot forgive him. I cannot forgive
+Dietrich for having treated you so, and then run away and hidden himself
+without writing a single word, to tell you where he is. He must know how
+you are suffering, and I too. And that Judas! I can never, never forgive
+him. He led Dietrich astray and deceived him. He has destroyed all our
+happiness. How can I forgive him? Doesn't he deserve our hatred? Can I
+help wishing him the worst punishment that ever befell a human being?"
+
+Veronica sobbed as if the long-pent-up agony of her heart would never
+again submit to be restrained. Silently Gertrude sat with folded hands,
+waiting till the storm was spent. At last she said softly,
+
+"If I felt as you do, my child, I could not bear it at all. It would kill
+me. But I do not feel so. When my Dieterli was a little child and I had to
+do everything for him, before he was old enough to take care of himself,
+there was much in his character and conduct that made me anxious. He
+always wanted to be first in everything, and whatever he wished for, that
+he must have, without delay and without effort on his part. And as he grew
+older and these qualities strengthened, I often felt that with his
+headstrong disposition he could never become great and good, without the
+discipline of a severe school. From the earliest hours of his life, I gave
+him into God's hands, and prayed for God's care and guidance. And through
+all these years my constant prayer for my boy has been, 'Lead him where
+Thou wilt, Oh God, only let him not fall out of Thy hands; When this heavy
+trial came, which was almost beyond my strength to bear, I did not lose
+my faith that the God to whom I had given him, would not let my Dieterich
+be lost. If the hard lessons of life have begun for Dietrich, he must
+learn them thoroughly; and if his sins are to be purged away, he must
+suffer in the process. And though I suffer too, it is God's will; I have
+had much schooling in my life, and have learned much and gained much from
+it. Do not feel so hardly against Dietrich because he has not written to
+us. Perhaps he has written, and the letter has gone astray. I look for a
+letter every day, but if he does not write, we may be sure that he is in
+great trouble, poor boy! He knows how we feel toward him, and if he has
+gone into evil ways we must pity him the more and pray God to bring him
+back into the right path again. As to Jost, I think as you do, that he is
+to blame for our poor boy's troubles. He led him astray and then played
+him false. Jost is a poor lost sheep who has wandered far from the fold.
+He has no one to care for him, no one to lead him back again. He is alone
+in the world. Should not we pray that he may be shown the wickedness of
+his ways, that his conscience may be awakened and that he may repent and
+his soul be saved?"
+
+Veronica had listened attentively to all that Gertrude had said. After a
+silence she said thoughtfully,
+
+"Mother, are you made happy by this faith in God?"
+
+And without a moment's hesitation came the answer;
+
+"I know of nothing that can make us so happy as this faith--the strong
+confidence in our hearts that our Father in Heaven orders and watches over
+our lives, and that everything which happens to us is for our good, if we
+obey him and hold fast to him. I do not know much, Veronica; I have not
+read nearly as much as lame Sabina, or as you have, and you understand
+things far better than I do; but it seems to me that you would have gained
+more from your reading, if you had tried to find something in the books,
+which you could use to help you in your trouble, and not merely to find
+out something new about what other people do and how they live."
+
+"If you learned from these books that our Lord Jesus Christ first taught
+the lesson that all men are equal in the sight of God, and that one soul
+is of as much worth as another before Him, then it must have been told
+there too, how our Savior brought us the glad tidings that we have a
+Father in Heaven, who loves His children and who will bless them if they
+put their trust in Him. Our Savior shows us the way to our Heavenly
+Father, and will help us to overcome all the difficulties that stand in
+our path. He speaks to us with a tenderness beyond that of any other
+friend, and bids us lay our burdens upon Him and He will help us to bear
+them."
+
+"But mother," said Veronica, looking with a wonder that was almost awe
+upon the peaceful countenance of the mother, "can you truly say that you
+have found peace and happiness, while you have no news from him, and do
+not know what dreadful tidings any minute may bring you?"
+
+"Yes, Veronica, I can and I do say so," answered Gertrude, and her face
+even without words would have borne witness to the truth of what she said.
+"I know that what ever comes to us, comes from God, and is for our good.
+But Veronica, we must put away all hatred and bitterness from our hearts;
+these feelings are all evil, and we must ask to be forgiven for them.
+Shall I go on with the prayer, where you left off, my child? Try to join
+with me; it will help you, dear."
+
+And Gertrude finished the Lord's prayer.
+
+Veronica sat silent for a time, and then rose and went to her own room.
+She could not sleep, but she had no inclination to seek relief for trouble
+in her sewing, as she had been accustomed to do. Gertrude's words were
+working in her heart. How often had she said lately in the proud
+bitterness of her heart, "A fine truth indeed!
+
+    'Fortune stands ready, full in sight,
+     He wins, who knows to grasp it right!'"
+
+And now Gertrude had shown her that the words were true after all, and
+that she had herself grasped Happiness, the truest Fortune, even in the
+midst of a deep sorrow, greater even than Veronica's own.
+
+Sleeplessly for Veronica the hours of the night went by; but over and over
+again the mother's words sounded in her ears, and she strove to quiet with
+them the trouble and unrest of her heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES.
+
+
+Still no news came from Dietrich. Jost made many attempts to show Veronica
+how much he wished to win her favor. He often went to meet her, and he
+gave himself endless trouble to convince her of his attachment. He could
+not boast that he made himself of any use by going to meet her; for she
+was always accompanied by Blasi, who marched by her side with a triumphant
+air as if to say, "Jost can judge for himself who holds the place of honor
+here!" When Jost joined them, Veronica took care that Blasi should walk
+between herself and the intruder, and she neither said a word herself,
+nor seemed to hear what the others were saying. Jost grew pale with
+suppressed rage. Whenever at other times he met Blasi anywhere, he threw
+contemptuous words at him. If occasionally Blasi stepped into the Rehbock
+for a glass of beer, Jost would cry out,
+
+"Oh ho, she allows it to-night, does she, you donkey of a servant? How
+will you look when she doesn't want your services any longer, and gives
+you your dismissal? She is already beginning to soften towards me, but
+until she comes to me and begs me to hear her, I won't listen to a word,
+nor pay the slightest attention to her."
+
+Such remarks as these, thrown out before all the company at the Rehbock
+were very exasperating to Blasi and several times he seized the big bowl
+to throw it at the insolent fellow's head. He did not throw it however,
+for Veronica had charged him to have as little as possible to do with
+Jost, and especially never to quarrel with him, and Veronica's influence
+over Blasi grew stronger every day. So he did not throw the bowl, but
+instead, drained it to the bottom and then left the room.
+
+About this time Blasi began to meet Judith very often on his evening walk.
+Judith seemed to have some business that took her frequently to Fohrensee.
+Strange surmises were aroused, among the Fohrensee people; for it was
+known that she went to visit the cattle-dealer. The two were often seen
+standing before his house in the open street, gesticulating vehemently
+with hands and arms. The people about said,
+
+"Something's in the wind. They're going to be married. To be sure she is
+cleverer than he, but then he is twenty-five years younger, and that
+counts for something."
+
+One evening in January, Judith met Blasi as he was coming round the corner
+of Gertrude's house, where he was always at work till it was time to go
+for Veronica.
+
+"What makes you go about laughing all the time, and looking as if you had
+been winning a game?" asked Judith.
+
+"That's exactly what I was going to ask you," retorted Blasi, "What have
+you got to laugh about?"
+
+"Answer me, and I'll answer you, my lad."
+
+"All right; it's nothing to be ashamed of. She'll have me."
+
+"Good heavens!" exclaimed Judith "Who? Which one?"
+
+Blasi did not turn round, but pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at
+the house he had just left. "That one," he said.
+
+Judith shouted with laughter.
+
+"Will she have you all three?" she said; "first Dietrich, then Jost, and
+now you."
+
+"I don't see the joke," said Blasi crossly. "Dietrich has run away; she
+avoids Jost as if he were a nettle, and who else is there? Who is there
+for her to call upon if she wants help, hey?"
+
+Judith was still snickering over the news.
+
+"Now it's your turn," said Blasi, "tell me what it is that you're so
+pleased about."
+
+"It is very much like yours, Blasi; come a little nearer," and she
+whispered in his ear, "I have him."
+
+"Mercy on us!" cried Blasi. "You will be as rich as a Jew, for the
+cattle-dealer is worth more than half the people in Fohrensee, all put
+together."
+
+"I'm not talking about the cattle-dealer."
+
+"Pshaw! whom are you talking about then?"
+
+"Somebody else, and I have him in such a fashion that he will not forget
+it in a hurry, I tell you!"
+
+As she spoke, Judith made a gesture with her hands as if she were choking
+some one, who certainly would not escape alive from her clutches.
+
+Blasi shook his head and walked on in silence. But in his inmost mind he
+thought, "I can't make anything out of her; her head is all in a buzz. But
+she's only a woman."
+
+Soon after, they reached the turf-hut, and there they separated. Veronica
+was not far off; and as she came up Blasi joined her, and they walked
+quickly along over the crisp, frozen ground. She was more silent than
+usual, and seemed sunk in thought. In the middle of the wood she stopped
+suddenly and said,
+
+"Blasi will you do me a great favor?"
+
+"I will do anything in the world for you, Veronica," was the prompt reply,
+"I will jump into the big pond over there, and never come out again, if
+you want me to."
+
+"You couldn't get in now; it is frozen hard," said the girl, laughing. "I
+don't want you to do that, but something very different. Do you think you
+could find out what Jost knows about Dietrich? Perhaps he has told Jost
+where he is, and where a letter would reach him."
+
+"Yes, but look here, Veronica, are you still thinking about him, all this
+time?" asked poor Blasi, quite taken aback.
+
+"We will not talk about that," she answered curtly. "To tell the truth, I
+am very anxious about our mother. She has been very far from well lately,
+and she says every now and then, 'If I could only see him once more!' as
+if she felt that she was not going to live much longer. Oh, help me get
+word to Dietrich if you can, Blasi! do help me!" Veronica's eyes were full
+of tears, as she raised them beseechingly to Blasi's face. He was much
+touched at the sight of her tears; but then a great fear arose in his
+mind, for he thought, "She is beginning to soften, and it will all turn
+out just as Jost said." And he determined to prevent it at any cost.
+
+"Don't lose your courage, and I'll try my best! I'll see what I can do!"
+he said in a very decided tone, and with a most courageous air.
+
+"You are my only friend now," said Veronica; and the words spurred Blasi
+on to immediate action. He left her in the doorway, and hastened away. He
+would find out all that Jost could or would tell about Dietrich. He ran
+across to the Rehbock, where he found Jost sitting with his glass. For if
+Jost, as he complained, had to sit and work all the morning, while others
+did as they pleased, yet he made enough money by his work to allow him to
+spend all his afternoons at the Rehbock, and remain, drinking one glass
+after another, all through the evening, and late into the night.
+
+Blasi seated himself by his side, and opened his case very skilfully. He
+wanted to know about their old friend; where he was now, and whether there
+was any chance of getting a line sent to him. He did not mind paying for a
+drink to-night, he said, if Jost would tell him exactly what he knew about
+Dietrich; they ought to hang together, they three, who had known each
+other ever since they were children. While Blasi was discoursing in this
+clever manner, Jost looked squintingly at him, and when he stopped, he
+answered scoffingly,
+
+"Oh, so she has come to it at last, has she? I have been expecting it. You
+go back and tell her that I can give her all the information she wants;
+but she must come to me for it, herself, and speak pleasantly to me, as I
+do to her. Tell her that she will never see him again, as long as she
+lives; he is too far off. But if she wants to send him a message, she has
+but to come to me and ask, and I will do her that favor, and she can do me
+one in return. Go now, Blasi, and tell her this from me. I'll pay for the
+beer myself."
+
+Blasi felt stunned. Jost had seen through his little game at a glance, and
+treated it with contempt. How could he carry such a message to Veronica?
+It might bring the tears into her eyes again, and that was altogether too
+painful to see. There was no use in remonstrating with Jost, who sat there
+smiling scornfully without farther words. For the first time in his life,
+Blasi left his glass unfinished. He pulled his cap down over his eyes and
+left the inn. When he entered the widow's cottage, Veronica sat by the
+table, stitching away at the old mail-bag. She put it down as he came in,
+and looked up anxiously into his face.
+
+"It's no use; he is just splitting with rage and fury;" and Blasi threw
+his cap across into the farthest corner of the room. He related the whole
+conversation and it was plain enough that it was useless for him to try to
+get anything out of Jost.
+
+She was silent for a time; thinking over Jost's words. "He wants to humble
+me! I am to go and beseech him to tell me; and I must be friendly and do
+him a favor. What favor? No, I will have nothing to do with him."
+
+She took up the bag again, stitched up the last hole, and folded the work.
+Then she said,
+
+"May I ask one thing more of you, Blasi? I hope I shall be able to repay
+you some day for all your kindness."
+
+"Only speak, Veronica," said Blasi, "I will do anything you ask. If you
+want me to, I will go to find Dietrich, even if I have to go on foot all
+the way to Australia."
+
+"Oh, it is no such long journey as that. I am sorry to ask you to do a
+disagreeable errand, but you see Mother is much disturbed because this
+mail-bag has not been sent back. She seems to be in a hurry to have
+everything finished and settled up--as if she had no time to lose."
+Veronica paused, and the tears that it so troubled Blasi to see, filled
+her eyes to overflowing. "I promised mother that the bag should be sent
+home early tomorrow morning, and you see I have no one but you to ask. You
+can't leave your work in the daytime and at evening you have to go to meet
+me; so there is no time but the very early morning before work hours."
+
+"I will take it if it snows cats and dogs; but where is it to go?"
+
+"It is not a pleasant walk, unless you go a long way round by the
+high-road. The bag belongs at the post-office at the Valley bridge. Do
+you think you could get down the steep foot-path in this deep snow? I
+should feel dreadfully if anything were to happen to you, Blasi."
+
+Blasi was not afraid. He was proud to show Veronica that she might count
+on his courage, where he had only the forces of nature to contend against,
+and not the treacherous tricks of Jost.
+
+Veronica had a hard battle with herself that night. "Must I do it?" she
+asked herself again and again, and each time her heart revolted and she
+groaned aloud, "I cannot, oh, I cannot!"
+
+Then the image of Gertrude rose before her, pale and suffering, and she
+heard her heart-rending words, "If I could only see him once more!"
+Veronica could not sleep, nor could she come to any decision.
+
+Next morning it seemed that Blasi was to be taken at his word, and his
+boast of being ready for service, no matter what the weather might be, was
+to be put to the proof; for it stormed furiously and the wind blew so
+fiercely when he left the house, that he could scarcely make way against
+it. The half-frozen snow stung and blinded him, but it did not deter him.
+He forced his way onwards, and though it was still dark and he could not
+see one step before him, he went on as confidently and unhesitatingly as
+if there were no chance of his losing his way. And he did not lose it.
+When day dawned he found himself close to the Valley-bridge, in spite of
+deep snows and stinging sleet.
+
+"You are early," said the post master, who was busy sorting his letters by
+lamplight. Blasi answered that he had to be at work by sunrise, and
+having delivered the bag and received the pay for it, he started for home
+again. He had scarcely gone twenty steps when the post-master called after
+him,
+
+"Hulloa! Blasi, you can do a neighborly kindness if you will, and it won't
+cost you anything;" and he handed Blasi a letter.
+
+"It is for the old Miller's widow, over there. Jost fetches her letters
+himself, usually; it is marked "To be called for," but he'll be glad to be
+spared the walk such a day as this. You can tell him he needn't come
+to-day, you know."
+
+Blasi took the letter. The Miller's widow was an old deaf woman, who lived
+quite alone, in a little, tumble-down cottage, just off the road, on a
+lonely hillside. The foot-path that Blasi took, led near her dwelling. The
+woman was an aunt of Jost's, and had known better days when her husband
+was alive; but now she had fallen into poverty, and had grown sour and
+bitter, and would have nothing to do with the rest of the world. Blasi
+worked his way to her hut, through the deep, pathless snow. As he
+approached the door, he took the letter from his pocket, and looked at the
+address.
+
+"Heavens and earth and all the rest of it! It is from Dietrich!" he cried
+out. "I didn't copy all his work at school for nothing. I know his
+hand-writing as well as I know anything!"
+
+He talked aloud in his excitement, as he stood hammering away at the door,
+which the old woman was not very prompt in opening. At last he opened it
+himself, and came stamping into the room. The widow was sitting on a bench
+by the stove, picking wool. She had not heard his knocks, and she stared
+at him with amazement. He explained how he came by the letter, but she was
+too deaf to understand him. Then he held the letter close under her eyes,
+and shouted in her ear,
+
+"Read it! I want to know what's in it. It's from Dietrich."
+
+She pushed the letter away and said sharply,
+
+"It don't belong to me. I never get any letters. Take it away."
+
+Blasi was fairly out of patience.
+
+"That's your name, any way," he said. "I'll read it to you; I want to know
+what he says." He tore the letter open and began to read:
+
+                        "HAMBURG, 14th Jan., 18--
+
+    "My Dear Jost:"
+
+Blasi started, but he read on. It was a short letter, and he read it
+through twice.
+
+"Will you get out?" said the old woman crossly, for Blasi stood as if
+rooted to the floor. He stuffed the letter back into the torn cover, and
+went out, but stopped again outside. What should he do? The letter was
+Jost's. He was afraid of Jost, and he had opened Jost's letter! Presently
+an idea struck him, and he instantly acted on it. He stuck the envelope
+together as well as he could, ran through the storm back to the
+post-office, tossed in the letter quickly, saying, "The old woman says
+it's not for her, and she won't take it," and was off again on his
+homeward way.
+
+As for Veronica, she had but one thought in her mind all that day.
+Gertrude was so ill when she went to her bed-side in the morning, that
+Veronica's heart at once cried out, "It must be done!" and all day long
+she kept repeating to herself, "It shall be done to-night."
+
+When Blasi went to meet her that evening, he was so full of his news that
+he could scarcely wait to greet her, before beginning to tell it; but he
+was so startled by her looks that instead, he stopped short, and
+exclaimed,
+
+"What is the matter? Are you ill? Sit down and rest, in the hut, here."
+
+Veronica shook her head; she could not lose a moment, she said, for she
+was in a hurry to get home, and was not in the least ill. Then Blasi
+blurted out his story; he was so eager, that he could scarcely get the
+words out straight. Veronica listened with breathless attention. Suddenly,
+such a happy radiance spread over her face, that Blasi stood still and
+gazed at her.
+
+"Hamburg! did you say Hamburg, Blasi? Was that where the letter came
+from?" Her eyes danced with joy; Blasi had never seen her look like that
+before.
+
+"Certainly it was; I am sure of it; I can read Dietrich's writing fast
+enough," answered Blasi, and he added to himself, "The women-folk are
+queer creatures. No fellow can understand them. A moment ago she looked
+all broken-down, and as if she could be blown out with a puff of wind,
+and now she looks bright and strong as the sun at noon-day."
+
+"Repeat word for word what you read in the letter, please, Blasi," and he
+told her all that he could remember. It did not take long. Dietrich said
+that he had not much to say, but wrote because Jost was the only person in
+the world who cared anything for him. Perhaps some day his mother would
+come to feel differently; but since he had brought so much trouble upon
+her, he could not expect her to forgive him yet. If Veronica was going to
+marry some one else, he did not want to hear about it. He could not make
+up his mind to go to Australia as Jost advised; it was too far away; he
+was almost dead of homesickness even in Hamburg. If they were after him
+for the man-slaughter, he thought he could hide well enough there, and
+perhaps in a few years when the whole thing was forgotten, he could come
+home again.
+
+If worst came to worst, and he were taken, he should at least get home, if
+only to be put into the House of Correction. He felt the worst on his
+mother's account. He wanted Jost to write and tell him about things at
+home, and it was safest to send to the same address, as he always called
+for the letters himself.
+
+Veronica hung upon every word that fell from Blasi's lips, and when he had
+finished, she walked silently by his side, deep in thought. Presently he
+asked her what he should do if Jost found out that he had opened his
+letter and hauled him up before a Justice of the Peace for it. Veronica
+said she believed that Jost would scarcely care to say anything about the
+letter. She advised Blasi to keep his own counsel, and to behave as usual,
+in a perfectly unconcerned manner, whenever he met Jost. She would take
+the rest in hand herself. Blasi was more than willing to leave it all to
+her; he had entire confidence in her ability to manage the affair. The
+letters of all the country round were collected at the central office in
+Fohrensee, to be forwarded together from there to the nearest city, where
+they were sorted and distributed. Veronica thought of this, and laid her
+plans accordingly. The next day as soon as she reached Fohrensee, she went
+to the post-office, and asked to see the address of a letter which had
+just been sent in, on its way to Hamburg. The post-master, who knew her
+well, did not think the request at all singular, supposing that it had
+something to do with the school business.
+
+"A letter for Hamburg came in last evening;" said his daughter who was his
+assistant, "there it lies with the others that came with it."
+
+The postmaster went to the table and found the letter, which he handed to
+Veronica. "The address is not very nicely written," he said.
+
+The handwriting was either that of a person unused to the pen, or it was
+purposely disguised. The letter was addressed to a woman of the same name
+as that of the miller's widow. The name of the street was illegible, but
+the words "To be called for," were plainly written.
+
+Veronica was convinced that the letter she was in search of lay before
+her. So Jost had written as she had expected he would do, the day before.
+He had undoubtedly seen that Dietrich's letter had been opened. Did he
+write so promptly in order to frighten Dietrich into going farther away?
+Had he suggested to him a new address now that the old one had been
+discovered? She felt sure that Jost was trying to prevent anyone but
+himself from having any communication with Dietrich. There was not a
+moment to lose. What would she not have given to be able to withhold the
+letter! But she did not dare. She returned it to the postmaster and asked
+for a piece of paper. Her hand trembled with excitement and her heart beat
+so loud, that she thought the post-master must hear it.
+
+She wrote the following words:
+
+"Dear Dietrich; your mother is very weak. Come home directly. You have
+nothing to fear. Veronica."
+
+She enveloped it, and addressed it as Jost had done his, and handed it to
+the post-master.
+
+"I thank you very much indeed," she said, "will you kindly see that this
+letter goes by this morning's mail?"
+
+"Yes, yes, I understand; it's a thread-and-needle business," he said
+laughing, as he threw the letters down on the same pile. "They will travel
+side by side and reach Hamburg together."
+
+All day Veronica's hand trembled at her work. Outwardly she was tranquil
+and composed; but within was a storm of conjectures, fears and hopes. What
+had Jost written to Dietrich about his mother; what about her? Jost had
+evidently let him believe that he had killed a man. What reason had Jost
+for deceiving him and keeping him at a distance? These questions brought
+the color to Veronica's cheeks as she suspected what the answers might be.
+Did Jost think that she would marry him if Dietrich did not come back? or
+were there other reasons why he did not dare to let him come? All sorts of
+possible solutions flew through Veronica's head, and the conclusion she
+arrived at frightened her. She did not wish to suspect any one of being a
+rogue without good reason; yet the evidence seemed in this case to be
+irresistible. If Dietrich came home, everything would be cleared up. But
+if he did not come, what then? Would everything have to be allowed to go
+on as it was? She would talk it all over with Gertrude this very evening.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE MOTTO PROVES TRUE.
+
+
+Veronica for once did not carry out her plans. When she reached home she
+found Gertrude in a high fever. She spoke to Veronica as if she were still
+a child, and had just come in from school. Veronica sat quietly down by
+the bedside, and did what she could to soothe and refresh her, and when by
+degrees her mother's mind became more clear, she proposed to her to send
+for the doctor. But Gertrude did not want the doctor. She had no pain, she
+said; she was only weak. Veronica sat by her side all night, but of course
+it was no time to speak of the letter, and of the excitements of the day.
+It would not do to arouse hopes that might never be fulfilled, and if
+Dietrich came, that was enough. All through the long hours of the night,
+the girl sat thinking over all the hopes and fears and perplexities of her
+life, while Gertrude lay still and seemed to doze. Only now and then she
+spoke some kindly words to the children, and Veronica knew that she
+thought they were both there sitting by her bed-side; again her little
+ones.
+
+In the morning Gertrude was quite herself again. She would not hear of the
+doctor's being called, declaring that she needed nothing but a few days'
+rest. Veronica would not leave her; but sent word to Sabina, to ask her to
+take her place for a few days, which she knew she could rely upon her to
+do gladly, for Sabina was extremely friendly, and very proud of her former
+pupil, who had been a great credit to her in the position for which she
+had recommended her.
+
+That day and the next night Mother Gertrude remained quiet, and seemed to
+sleep most of the time. On the third day, it was evident that she was
+looking for something, whenever she opened her eyes, although she was not
+at all delirious; and she frequently exclaimed,
+
+"Oh! if I could only see him once more!"
+
+When the sunset light streamed through the window and illuminated the
+room, a happy smile lighted up her face. She murmured:
+
+    "He half in dreamland seemed to float
+     Saying 'to-morrow will be fine.'"
+
+After a while she turned towards Veronica and said,
+
+"Veronica, sing it again, with him please; it is beautiful, and I like to
+hear you sing together: 'To-morrow will be fine.'"
+
+"You have been dreaming, mother; we have not been singing," said the poor
+girl, wiping away her fast-flowing tears.
+
+It was dark now and all was still. The little night-lamp threw a pale
+light upon the bed, where the mother lay in a half-sleep. Veronica sat by
+with big wide-open eyes. Her restless thoughts were busy with many
+questions. Had he received her letter? Would he come? How? When? and how
+would the mother be? Suddenly Gertrude rose up in bed with greater
+strength than she had shown for many days. "Go! go! Veronica," she said
+beseechingly, "Open the door for him! He ought not to stand there knocking
+like a stranger. Show him how glad we are to see him again!"
+
+"No one is knocking, mother; you are only dreaming," said Veronica sadly
+shaking her head; but the longing in Gertrude's eyes was more than she
+could resist, and she rose and left the room, thinking to please her by
+compliance. She heard a step; but then the road ran in front of the house,
+and it might be any passer-by. She opened the outside door--Dietrich stood
+before her!
+
+"You summoned me, or I should not have come;" said the young man, half in
+excuse, and half reassuringly, for Veronica stood dumb and motionless
+before him. "Will you not shake hands, Veronica?"
+
+She gave him her hand, saying only,
+
+"Come to your mother; she heard your step, and doesn't need to be prepared
+for you. But you must control yourself; you will find her very much
+altered."
+
+Dietrich entered the room. His mother was still sitting up in bed,
+watching the door, in a strained, expectant attitude. She was indeed
+changed. She looked so small and thin and wasted. Dietrich was completely
+unmanned at the sight. He sprang to the bedside, threw his arms about her,
+and between his sobs he cried again and again,
+
+"Forgive me, mother, forgive me! I will never act so again! I will lead a
+different life! Everything shall be right! You must live to be happy,
+mother!"
+
+"Thank God that you have come, Dietrich," said his mother, trembling with
+weakness and excitement. "I forgave you long ago. How could I have
+anything against you? But, my dear boy, why did you not write one word,
+one little word to tell me how you were and where? Didn't you know how
+unhappy you were making me?"
+
+"What, mother! what do you mean? I wrote three times to you and twice to
+Veronica; and you sent me back word through Jost that you did not want to
+hear from me; that the disgrace was too much, and that no one dared to
+mention my name before Veronica, she was so angry with me. I had to send
+my letters through Jost, and he gave me the address of his old aunt to
+make all safe. It was better for you not to know where I was, because
+they were hunting for me on account of the man I killed. And you have
+never got one of my letters; not one?"
+
+His mother could only shake her head in reply. She tried to speak, but she
+had already gone beyond her strength, and she sank back upon her pillows.
+Veronica, who had been standing by in silence, started forward.
+
+"I will run for the doctor," she said, "stay with her, Dietrich;" and she
+darted from the room. He hurried after her. "Let me go," he said, "it is
+too late for you to be out, and you can take better care of her than I
+can." He was off; and Veronica returned to the bed-side. He took the
+shortest road; the one that passed the Rehbock. Loud shouts and cries were
+sounding from the inn. He hurried by. Presently he heard his own name
+called; some one came running after him, shouting:
+
+"Wait, Dietrich, wait!" He turned round and saw Blasi, who had recognized
+him as he passed the door, and rushed out after him. "Don't run away,
+Dietrich! Welcome home! Where did you come from? Have you seen her? Don't
+run away! Listen to me!" Dietrich stopped and shook hands with Blasi, and
+again started forward. Blasi detained him.
+
+"There's been something going on that you ought to know about," he
+continued. "Don't think that I go to the Rehbock every evening, by any
+means! I heard there was some strange news, and so I went there to-night
+to hear it, and it was well worth while, I can tell you. The red fellow
+is found out! The cattle-dealer accused him of having stolen his money
+bag. The man denied it; there was a long investigation, and at last they
+found out that and a great many other things against him. He turns out to
+be a regular rascal. And when all this had been proved against him, he
+turned round and accused another man, who, he said, was really at the
+bottom of everything; but no one knows yet who it is. Don't run so fast; I
+can't keep up with you. Now you're out of it all right, Dietrich; but I
+suppose you know that they tried to make out that you took the money, and
+that was why you ran away. But I never believed it; I never did, on my
+honor. Do stand still; it's all right now, and you needn't run away any
+more."
+
+"I'm not going to run away, Blasi, and I thank you for bringing me this
+good news. But it's not all right you know, on account of Marx."
+
+"Marx!" cried Blasi, "what of Marx! it doesn't hurt a man to get a good
+beating. Marx is as lively as you or I, and still drinks more than enough
+to quench his thirst, when he can get it."
+
+Dietrich stood still now, and drew a long breath. "Is that true, Blasi,
+really true? You wouldn't say it if it were not true? She wrote me that
+there was nothing to fear; but I didn't understand it. And I can't quite
+understand now, Jost wrote me that Marx was dead, and that I had better go
+away as far as I possibly could, because they were searching for me, high
+and low. I can't make it out. But I must go now for the doctor. Come and
+see me to-morrow, Blasi; and we will have a good talk. Now good-night."
+
+Dietrich shook his old comrade by the hand and ran off. But Blasi could
+not so easily smother all the wonderful things he had to tell, and he
+called out at the top of his lungs,
+
+"You don't know much of anything yet! I spend the whole day at your house;
+it's you that will have to come to me. I am working at your trade; you
+ought to see! there's many a fellow that would be glad to do as well as I
+do!"
+
+But Dietrich had disappeared. It was past midnight, before he reached the
+doctor's house, and he knocked a good many times in vain. At last a maid
+came down and opened the door, saying as she did so,
+
+"What a plague it is, that everything always comes at once! He has been
+called out once to-night, and has hardly got to bed again. It never rains
+but it pours!"
+
+"I hope he will be so good as to come now;" said Dietrich, "it is very
+important or I would not ask him."
+
+The maid knocked at the chamber door. It was some time before the doctor's
+voice answered from within, "Who's there?"
+
+"Dietrich from Tannenegg," said the servant.
+
+"He back again? No, I'm too old and too tired for that. They ought to give
+him a good beating if they can catch him; it would serve him right."
+
+Dietrich stepped up to the door himself.
+
+"It is not for me, doctor," said he humbly, "it is for my mother; she is
+very ill indeed. For God's sake, doctor, come and help her!"
+
+"That's another thing altogether; she is a brave woman, who has been doing
+your work for you," said the voice from within the room. Pretty soon the
+doctor came out, and when Dietrich described his mother's condition, he
+took some medicines with him and started out.
+
+"I have no horse to use to-night; mine has done a hard day's work and must
+have his rest. We shall have to go up the hill afoot."
+
+As they crossed the open space in front of the house, he continued,
+
+"I remember once how on this very spot once a little boy stood up in front
+of me, and when I asked him if he would like some day to take care of a
+horse, answered, 'No, I want a horse of my own.' I thought he had a good
+purpose in view if he would only pursue it the right way. But it does not
+do to want to begin by being a gentleman. First come work, and service for
+us all, then mastership may follow. Whoever tries to begin at the end,
+will end at the beginning; which is not a good nor an agreeable method. Am
+I right or wrong, Dietrich?"
+
+"You are right, doctor. If one could only look ahead!" answered Dietrich.
+
+"Yes, that would help; but as we cannot, we must trust those who are our
+friends, and who have gone before us in the right way, and can show us the
+road; like that noble woman to whom we are now going."
+
+
+When they entered Gertrude's room they found her asleep. The doctor sat
+down by the bedside, watched her awhile, and felt her pulse from time to
+time. Then he arose and turning to Veronica, he said,
+
+"I can do no good here; take care of her; she deserves all you can do, but
+the lamp of life burns low, and will soon go out altogether. She has had a
+hard lot; trouble wears faster than years."
+
+With these words the doctor went to the door. He did not even glance
+towards Dietrich, who threw himself on his knees by the bedside of his
+dying mother, sobbing out:
+
+"O God in Heaven, do not let her die! Let her come back! Let her have a
+little comfort in this world! Punish me as I deserve, but oh! let my
+mother live!"
+
+Gertrude opened her eyes. She grasped the hand of her sobbing son, which
+lay upon hers, and held it tightly clasped; while she whispered softly:
+
+"Yes, my Dieterli, pray, pray; if you can pray, all will come right
+again."
+
+She closed her eyes and never spoke again. The hand that held Dietrich's
+grew cold. Veronica, who had been standing behind Dietrich weeping
+silently approached the bedside, took Gertrude's other hand in hers, and
+said between her sobs:
+
+"Sleep well, dear, good mother! Yes, for you 'tomorrow will be fine';" and
+she left the room.
+
+Two days later Dietrich followed his mother to her last resting place.
+There was no need to avoid meeting people now, for every one knew that
+the true thief had been discovered. But no hope was left to him in his
+home. When he returned from the funeral, and went into the house, he knew
+that he had no right there, for it no longer belonged to him. He went to
+his room, strapped on his heavy knap-sack, and came down stairs. Veronica
+was alone in the sitting-room. She stood leaning against the window, her
+eyes fixed on the church-yard beyond, where the mother lay sleeping.
+
+He entered the room. "Veronica, give me your hand once more. I am going,"
+he said, coming towards her.
+
+"Where are you going, Dietrich?" she asked in a voice that was wholly
+without feeling; and the cold tone seemed to stab the young man's heart as
+with a knife. "It is all one to her;" he thought.
+
+"I am going out into the world. I am going to work to pay my debts. I have
+no home; and as there is no one on earth who cares for me, I can bear my
+burden better anywhere than here."
+
+"Then go, in God's name," said Veronica, and she held out her hand to him.
+This was too much for Dietrich. He made one struggle for self-control and
+then broke down completely.
+
+"Can you let me go so coolly, Veronica? not one kindly word for me? If I
+might stay here with you, I would work day and night like the meanest
+servant; I would do anything and everything for you. But no! I must go! I
+could not bear it! How could I stay and see you give yourself to some one
+else--I who have lost you,--lost you forever!"
+
+The young man threw himself into a chair, buried his face in his hands,
+and cried like a child.
+
+Veronica was as white as snow. She went to his side, and laid her hand
+upon his shoulder.
+
+"Dietrich," she said softly, "if you feel in this way, why don't you ask
+me how I feel, when I think of living on here alone when you have gone;
+when you have left me perhaps forever?"
+
+Dietrich raised his eyes to hers. A look lay there, a look such as he had
+dreamed of in his banishment. He sprang to his feet, and seized her hand.
+
+"Veronica, can you love me? can you trust me?"
+
+She did not withdraw her hand, and looked him full in the eyes.
+
+"I have always loved you, Dietrich," she said, "and if I know that you can
+pray again to God, and promise to live a life acceptable to Him, I can
+trust you too."
+
+The young man pressed her to his heart. "Is it true, is it possible?" he
+cried. "Oh Veronica, can it be true?"
+
+But suddenly he started back, and said in a frightened tone,
+
+"No, I dare not. I cannot. Who am I? I am nothing; I have nothing, less
+than nothing; and I know what you are and how far above me. Jost wrote me
+that there was no hope for me. I wanted to make you so happy--I meant to
+get money and provide all sorts of beautiful things for you and to make
+you the happiest woman in the world. And now! now I am a beggar, and a
+miserable creature into the bargain."
+
+Veronica shook her head.
+
+"You do not understand what happiness really is, Dietrich. I have been
+searching for it longer than you have, and you may believe me that it is
+not what you think. It is not something at a distance, far beyond our
+reach; we may find it while we are at work. We are not beggars; this house
+is ours, and we can still live in it. But, Dietrich, we will try to find
+the way that our mother went; that is the true way to happiness and peace
+in life and death."
+
+"We will," cried Dietrich, with solemn joy; and as he clasped Veronica
+again to his heart, there was that in his face and in his voice which
+assured her that he would never leave her again, and that they would walk
+in that true way of happiness and peace together.
+
+At this moment Judith burst into the room. When she saw the faces of the
+two who stood before her, she stood stock still with surprise! She
+immediately took in the situation.
+
+"So! So! this is something that delights one's very heart!" she cried, and
+her face beamed with satisfaction. "But look out of the window! I came to
+tell you! You can say good-bye to that rascal forever."
+
+They stepped together to the window which looked out upon the road. Jost
+was just going by. His hands were bound together, and he was followed by
+the Constable, who hurried him along. Jost looked up at the window and
+shrank back at what he saw; but the man drove him on.
+
+"What does it mean?" asked Dietrich and Veronica in the same breath,
+turning to Judith.
+
+"It is what was bound to come," she explained. "Everything is found out.
+They seized the red fellow first, after I succeeded in getting it through
+the cattle-dealer's thick head that he was the man to get hold of. When
+they had driven the red man into a corner, so that he couldn't lie himself
+out of it, he turned against Jost, and declared that Jost had planned the
+whole thing and that he himself had only played second-fiddle. Which can
+lie the worst, no one can tell, but that they are both reaping what they
+have sown, is certain enough. And now we're to have a wedding, are we? and
+our Dietrich is going to settle down into regular home life again.
+Welcome, neighbors; we will live in friendship together all our days." And
+Judith shook hands cordially with them both, and hastened away to spread
+through the neighborhood the good news of the coming marriage.
+
+It is now ten years since Dietrich and Veronica left the church of
+Tannenegg where they had been made one, and the blessing had been
+pronounced upon their united lives. They went first to the little church
+yard and knelt by the new made grave covered with flowers. With tearful
+eyes, and with sad regrets in their happy hearts, they said,
+
+"If she could only have lived to see us now!"
+
+Today there is no more beautiful flower-garden in all Tannenegg, than that
+about Dietrich's pretty white house. Within the house all is so fresh and
+charming from top to bottom, that one who enters it finds it difficult to
+get away again from its hospitable shelter.
+
+Dietrich has built a fine large work-room; and there he sits and works,
+industrious and happy, or he goes about his outside affairs in a steady
+business-like manner. Often he has to go to Fohrensee and even farther;
+for his trade is prosperous beyond competition and his work is recognized
+far and wide as of unrivalled excellence.
+
+On Veronica's face lies such a sunshine of constant happiness as is good
+to look upon. She has given up her position in the school at Fohrensee;
+her place is with her husband and children; but she does not for all that
+sit with her hands in her lap; her orderly well-kept house, and her
+blooming well-behaved children bear witness to her faultless management
+as well as to her care and industry, and at the great annual Fair in the
+city, if any one inquires about some wonderfully fine and beautiful
+embroidery on exhibition, the answer invariably is, "that is the work of
+Veronica of Tannenegg."
+
+Blasi is Dietrich's permanent assistant. He is constantly about the house,
+and is known in the family as Uncle Blasi. As soon as the day's work is
+over, and the evening sets in, his first question is, "Where are our
+children?" He never speaks of them in any other way; they are his, his joy
+and pride. He has also a special claim upon them, for he and Cousin Judith
+are the god-father and god-mother of both.
+
+Blasi's favorite time is Sunday, when Dietrich goes to walk with his
+wife, and gives over the house and the children to him. Then he sets upon
+one knee the chubby little Dieterli and on the other the black eyed
+Veronica, and they ride there as long as they please, no matter how high
+the horse has to curvet and prance. And whatever else they want him to do
+for them, he is ready to do, whatever it may be.
+
+There is only one Sunday pleasure that outweighs the knee-riding with
+Uncle Blasi, and that is when Veronica takes her little girl in her lap
+and lets Dieterli press close to her side, as he does only when he is very
+much excited. Then the mother takes a little picture in her hand, the
+picture of a red rose. Suddenly the flower opens, and a little verse in
+golden letters appears. Every time this opens, it elicits a cry of joy
+from the children, and they are never tired of seeing the wonder repeated.
+And Veronica is never tired of repeating it; for the rose and the verse
+are so interwoven with her life that they recall many memories of joy and
+sorrow; and she often says to the children, "Some time when you are old
+enough, I will explain this golden motto to you, and you shall learn it by
+heart."
+
+When Blasi and Judith are alone together, he likes to talk over old times,
+and he often reminds her that he had fully made up his mind to marry
+Veronica himself; and he always winds up with,
+
+"I want you to understand that I would never have given her up to any one
+else; but an old friend like Dietrich, you know;--of course it's a very
+different thing with Dietrich."
+
+And Judith, laughing, answers,
+
+"Yes, yes, Blasi, you're quite right; it's a very different thing with
+Dietrich."
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Veronica And Other Friends
+by Johanna (Heusser) Spyri
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VERONICA AND OTHER FRIENDS ***
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