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diff --git a/old/53096-h.zip b/old/53096-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 3dacdc4..0000000 --- a/old/53096-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/53096-h/53096-h.htm b/old/53096-h/53096-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 1248d6f..0000000 --- a/old/53096-h/53096-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3896 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> -<html> -<head> -<title>Self-Doomed. A Novel.</title> -<meta name="Author" content="B. L. Farjeon"> -<meta name="Publication" content="Harper's Handy Series No. 27"> - -<meta name="Publisher" content="Harper and Brothers"> -<meta name="Date" content="1885"> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> -<style type="text/css"> -body {margin-left:10%; - margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} - - -p.normal {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify;} - -p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:20%;} - -p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} - -h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} - -span.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:110%;} -span.sc2 {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:90%;} - -hr.W10 {width:10%; color:black; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt} - -hr.W20 {width:20%; color:black; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt} - -hr.W50 {width:50%; color:black;} -hr.W90 {width:90%; color:black;} - -p.hang1 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em;} -p.hang2 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:0em;} - -</style> - -</head> - -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Self-Doomed, by B. L. Farjeon - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Self-Doomed - A Novel - -Author: B. L. Farjeon - -Release Date: September 19, 2016 [EBook #53096] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELF-DOOMED *** - - - - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by the -Web Archive (The Library of Congress) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Notes:<br> -1. Page Scan Source:<br> - https://archive.org/details/selfdoomednovel00farj<br> - (The Library of Congress) -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<p class="center"><img src="images/cover_sheet.png" alt="cover_sheet"></p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<table cellpadding="10" style="width:90%; margin-left:5%; font-weight:bold"> -<colgroup><col style="width:10%; vertical-align:top; text-align:right"><col style="width:90%; vertical-align:top; text-align:left"></colgroup> -<tr> -<td colspan="2"><h4>CONTENTS</h4></td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01">I.</a></td> -<td>MASTER FINK RELATES CERTAIN INTERESTING PARTICULARS CONCERNING HIS -APPRENTICE, GIDEON WOLF.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02">II.</a></td> -<td>A LOVE-CHAPTER IN THE LIFE OF MASTER FINK.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03">III.</a></td> -<td>MASTER FINK HAS A SINGULAR DREAM.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04">IV.</a></td> -<td>MASTER FINK HAS A SINGULAR DREAM.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05">V.</a></td> -<td>RELATES HOW GIDEON WOLF WAS SEEN BY OLD ANNA PLAYING CARDS WITH THE DEVIL.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_06" href="#div1_06">VI.</a></td> -<td>PRETZEL THE MISER, WITH THE EVIL EYE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_07" href="#div1_07">VII.</a></td> -<td>GIDEON WOLF PROPOSES TO ADOPT MASTER FINK AS HIS FATHER.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_08" href="#div1_08">VIII.</a></td> -<td>MASTER FINK RESOLVES TO UNDERTAKE A JOURNEY.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_09" href="#div1_09">IX.</a></td> -<td>RELATES WHAT KIND OF HARVEST MASTER FINK GATHERED IN THE COURSE OF HIS -JOURNEY.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_10" href="#div1_10">X.</a></td> -<td>MASTER FINK HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH THE WOMAN HE LOVED.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_11" href="#div1_11">XI.</a></td> -<td>RELATES HOW GIDEON WOLF LEFT MASTER FINK'S EMPLOYMENT.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_12" href="#div1_12">XII.</a></td> -<td>MASTER FINK ENDEAVORS TO RESCUE KATRINE LOEBEG FROM THE EVIL INFLUENCE OF -PRETZEL THE MISER.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_13" href="#div1_13">XIII.</a></td> -<td>GIDEON WOLF AND HIS MOTHER BEGIN THE NEW YEAR TOGETHER.</td> -</tr></table> - -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h3>SELF-DOOMED.</h3> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_01" href="#div1Ref_01">CHAPTER I.</a></h4> - -<h5>MASTER FINK RELATES CERTAIN INTERESTING PARTICULARS<br> -CONCERNING HIS APPRENTICE, GIDEON WOLF.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">I am truly glad to see you; this meeting has warmed my heart. -It is one of life's pleasantest experiences to shake the hand of an old friend, -and to learn from his own lips that he has not forgotten you in his wanderings. -I am sorely grieved to hear that you have lost your faithful mate, the dear -woman who was your companion for so many years. Be comforted; we shall meet them -again, these beloved ones. Resignation, friend, resignation. There are griefs -which all mortals have to bear. Happy the man in whose heart shines the bright -star of Hope, and who derives consolation from it. It is a solace born of Faith -the comforter, and it is beyond price.</p> - -<p class="normal">You are anxious to know what has become of my people? Name -them, friend. Gideon Wolf, my apprentice? And pretty Katrine Loebeg, too--you -are curious about her? Strange that you should bring their names into -association, for when you last visited me, twelve years ago, there was nothing -between those two; I may say that with confidence. Indeed, it is scarcely -possible there could have been, for Katrine was but thirteen. A beautiful -maiden, truly, but her heart was not then ripe enough for love; she was a mere -child. Twelve years ago! Ah me, ah me! How time flies! The three best seasons -have passed over my head, and I am in the winter of my life. But I feel young -sometimes even now--yes, indeed, I am good for many a year, I hope. I am fond of -life, and I have much to be grateful for, though I stand alone in the world, -without wife or child.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gideon Wolf and Katrine Loebeg! Gracious heavens, the -contrast! Truly a wolf and a lamb; a hawk and a dove; a poisonous weed and a -pure white lily. But you were as much a stranger to those two when you were here -last as you are at the present moment. Old Anna was my house-keeper then. You -remember Anna; you had good jokes with her, and she liked you; she said you were -a proper man. Where is she now, you ask? In her grave. She served me faithfully, -and lived till she was nearly eighty. Ah, she was a treasure--you don't often -meet with such. Everything went on in the house from hour to hour, from day to -day, from week to week, like a well regulated clock. And what beautiful stews -she made! Never, never shall I taste the like again. I have another house-keeper -now. Hush! She is here.</p> - -<br> -<p class="center" style="letter-spacing:25px">* * * * * *</p> -<br> - -<p class="normal">She has gone, and will not trouble us again tonight. You are -thoughtful--you observed something strange in her. Her dead-white face, her long -silvery hair, her great fixed eyes have impressed you. Why, yes--she never seems -to see anything that is before her, but to be forever gazing into a world -invisible to all other human beings. What she beholds there, Heaven only knows, -though I sometimes fancy I can see with my mind's eye the terrible scene which -shall abide with her to the last hour of her life, and the figures who played -their parts therein. On rare occasions I have heard her addressing them, but in -a tone so low that her words have not reached my ears. To me she never speaks -except upon the duties of the house, or in reply to a question I ask her. You -will scarcely believe that she was beautiful once--very, very beautiful--and -that she might have picked and chosen. No, she was never married. What a pitiful -look in her eyes? Yes, yes; it is enough to move one to sadness. What is it you -desire to know? Is she in her right mind? No, she is mad!</p> - -<p class="normal">Yes, she is mad, but she is perfectly harmless, and goes about -her duties well enough in her dull, monotonous way, and is a good cook, too, but -not so good as Anna. That is not to be wondered at. There never was another cook -like Anna. My mouth waters when I think of her. This one is not old. You will -scarcely credit it--she is not yet six-and-twenty. Ah, you may well open your -eyes. But if you will consider a little, you will not be able to recall the -memory of any old woman whose white hair was so thick and abundant, and who wore -it loose, as this young one does, almost to her knees. Not many years ago her -hair was golden brown, and we used to gaze upon it and upon her with delight and -admiration--for her eyes were the brightest of any, and her face had a beautiful -color in it.</p> - -<p class="normal">Fill your pipe again, and draw closer to the fire. How the -wind shrieks without! There are angry spirits abroad; it is a mercy we are -comfortably housed. So! Settle yourself in your arm-chair, and I will tell you -the story of Gideon Wolf, who worked for me till he was twenty-four years of -age, and who was not satisfied with the fruits of honest labor, because it did -not enable him to grow rich in a month. That was his sole idea of -happiness--riches, nothing but riches. The flowers of the fields, the fragrance -of the hedges, the singing of the birds, the beauty of the heavens, all the -wonders of nature--they were naught to him. He set up an idol for himself, and -he worshipped it with all his might. Did a carriage roll past the door, be would -look up from his work with discontent in his eyes, and an expression on his face -which said, as plainly as if he had uttered the words aloud, "Why haven't <i>I</i> -a carriage? Why should -<i>I</i> walk, while others ride?" Did a gentleman in a fine coat enter my shop -to leave his watch to be cleaned, there on Gideon's face was always the same -miserable expression.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink," be said, "the poor are much to be pitied."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So are the rich, Gideon," I answered. "I doubt whether of the -two, the poor have not the most reason to be grateful."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Grateful!" he cried. "For what? For having so little, while -the rich have so much?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Every back to its burden," I said. "Go on with your work, my -lad, and make the best of things. You will be the happier for it."</p> - -<p class="normal">But it was not in his nature to follow such good advice. Did -he drink beer he turned it sour by grumbling that it wasn't wine. He envied -everybody who had finer things than he could afford to buy, and the jingling of -silver in other people's pockets sent the blood rushing angrily through his -veins. I knew that he hungered for money, but I was not afraid that be would rob -me. I was a sharp blade at my business, and my property was safe from his -itching fingers. Let a spring, a pair of hands, the smallest of wheels be -missing, and I was sure to find it out. He was aware of this; I had taken some -pains to make him understand it. Besides,if he had robbed me of all I possessed -it would not have contented him. That is one of the curses of such natures as -his--never to be satisfied, never to be even grateful.</p> - -<p class="normal">When his apprenticeship was out I still employed him, paying -him piece by piece for the work he did. Had I paid him a regular wage he would -have got the advantage of me. He did not earn a great deal; after deducting what -was due for his board and lodging there was seldom at the end of the week more -than a florin for him to receive. He spent upon his clothes more than he was -warranted in doing, for he aped the fashions of his betters. It was money thrown -away; the finest clothes in the world could not make Gideon Wolf look like a -gentleman. Then he indulged in a terrible vice which eats into the soul of a -man--he was a gambler. He had a poor mother, fifty miles away, who, he would -declare with a hypocritical look at the rafters, depended upon him for support. -With what a long face would he come to me and say,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink, my dear mother is sick--very, very sick! I beg -of you to lend me five florins to send her. It will be an act of true charity. -You can put it down to my account. Do not fear that you will lose anything by -me. One day I shall be rich, and I will repay you every florin."</p> - -<p class="normal">But he gave his mother nothing; it was within my knowledge -that during all the years he was in my service he had not sent her the smallest -coin. Sometimes it was not for his mother that he begged money of me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, what an adventure, Master Fink--what a sad, melancholy -adventure!" he would say, bursting in upon me suddenly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is the matter, now, Gideon?" I would ask, preparing for -the shock.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, the world--the cruel, cruel world!" he would moan. "You -know, Master Fink, that I went from here with three florins in my pocket, which -I intended to pay Muller the tailor off the just debt I owe him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Proceed, Gideon."</p> - -<p class="normal">"On the outskirts of the town I met a poor unfortunate -woman--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"On the outskirts of the town, Gideon? That is not the way to -Muller's shop."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Muller was not in when I called, so, the day being fine, I -took a walk through the woods. Was it good or bad fortune, Master Fink, that the -idea came into my head of walking through the woods?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Until you further enlighten me I cannot say."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You shall hear all. In the woods I met this poor unfortunate -woman. She had no shoes to her feet, and only a thin torn dress upon her body; -and oh, Master Fink, she had a baby in her arms who was sobbing for want of -food. The wretched creature told me her sad story, and begged me, if I had a -mother of my own, to save her child from starvation. What could I do? I am -poor--yes, I am poor, and the money in my pocket really belonged to Muller, but -could I resist so heart-rending an appeal? Could <i>you</i> have resisted it? -No, you are too humane, and because I am not rich, am I to be deprived of the -pleasure of doing a good action? I did as you would have done. Without -considering how I should replace the three florins I gave them to the poor -woman, who crawled away, calling down blessings on my head."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You want me to lend you three florins to pay Muller."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, Master Fink, to lend it, not to give it. You must not -rob me of the pleasure of doing an act of charity."</p> - -<p class="normal">To these and numberless other stories I would listen, without -troubling myself to contradict him. What would have been the use? As long as I -kept Gideon with me it was best not to come to words with him, and I bore with -many things of which I did not approve. Occasionally I lent him a portion of -what he asked for, taking care that he did not get too deeply in my debt, and I -used to think with wonder of the amazing amount of deceit that could be hidden -in the breast of one human being.</p> - -<p class="normal">I see in your eyes the question, Why, if I did not like Gideon -Wolf, did I continue to employ him? Why did I keep him, an indifferent workman, -in my shop, when there were so many better men looking for work who would have -been grateful to me all the days of their lives if I had taken them on? For it -is not workmen that are difficult to find; it is masters. Well, there was a -strong human reason, and I may speak of it now because it will hurt no one. It -was not for the sake of Gideon Wolf, but for the sake of his mother, that I kept -him with me.</p> - -<p class="normal">Friend, I am going to open for you a chapter of my life which -few have read.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">CHAPTER II.</a></h4> - -<h5>A LOVE-CHAPTER IN THE LIFE OF MASTER FINK.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The village in which I was born lies fifty miles from this -spot, and is one of those places hidden in odd nooks and corners which the busy -world seems either to have forgotten or to regard as of too slight importance to -take any notice of. It moves neither backward nor forward; it is the same to-day -as it was a hundred years ago. Its houses, its roads, its little shops, its bits -of garden, its church, are the same now as then, and, unless something startling -occurs, will be the same at the end of another hundred years. There are families -living there at this moment whose great-great-grandfathers lived there--in the -self-same cottages, grown now so old that their walls are rotting and crumbling -away. The people, with scarcely an exception, are all of them poor, and live a -life of contentment. As I should have done perhaps--my family for five -generations having done so before me--had it not happened that I fell in love -with Louisa Wagner.</p> - -<p class="normal">I have spoken of the beauty of Katrine Loebeg. Louisa Wagner -was even more beautiful. Do not think I say so because I loved her; it was -universally acknowledged; and just in the way Katrine was sought after here so -was Louisa sought after in the village in which I was born. I may say, without -running the risk of being thought vain, that I was a well-looking lad. It is -undoubtedly a fact that I was industrious, and not given to tippling. From my -father I learned the mysteries of the art of watchmaking. Our family had been -the village watch and clock menders for generations. There was, however, not -enough business in that line to be picked up among the scanty and poor -population to support us, so my grandfather, and my father after him, took to -cobbling boots and shoes to eke out a living. I also learned to cobble, and was -no mean hand at it. We were, therefore, the village watch-menders and cobblers, -and managed to rub on, chiefly, it must be owned, by the patching of leather, -which is a degree or two lower in the social scale than the art which teaches -you how to put together the delicate works of a watch.</p> - -<p class="normal">Louisa Wagner was the only child of a laborer on the private -estate of the owner of the village lands, and in falling in love with her I fell -in love with a girl in my own station in life.</p> - -<p class="normal">Heavens! how beautiful she was! Her cheeks were handsomer than -the handsomest peach, her eyes were as bright as the brightest stars, her skin -was as soft as the softest velvet. To me what a vision of brightness! Where on -this earth was to be found her equal? In my belief, nowhere. That is the way of -lovers for a time. No feeling so potent as that which agitates the heart of a -young man as he contemplates the being upon whom he has set his affections. -Gradually the change comes, as we all live to learn. The heavenly light fades -slowly away, and life's hard lessons, no less than the strange workings of the -human heart, recall us to a sterner reality. Happy those who find themselves -cast upon a peaceful shore, where they can enjoy the calmer and more enduring -affection which sometimes follows the subsidence of love's delirium!</p> - -<p class="normal">For weeks and weeks I nursed my passion, fed on it, was made -happy by it. Louisa Wagner did not appear to look on me with coldness; nay, she -seemed flattered by my ardent glances, and, as I believed, had a feeling -stronger for me than that of ordinary friendship. That she should love me with -such devotion as I loved her was not to be thought of. This love of a young man -when it is pure, as mine was, ennobles him, and beautifies all surrounding -things. I sang at my work, though it was even so mean as the patching of boots. -Louisa had two pairs of boots, and I soled and heeled them, one after the other, -and my heart went into the stitches. I held them in my hands and kissed -them--yes, I am not ashamed to confess it, I kissed them in a kind of rapture. I -took them to bed with me. By the side of my bed hung a cage with a linnet in it. -I told the bird in a whisper that the boots belonged to Louisa--ah, what -foolish, foolish things we do when the fever is upon us!--and the linnet trilled -out its joyfullest notes. I laughed, I chirruped, I shed tears, and when I knelt -at my bedside and repeated my prayers, I pressed Louisa's boots to my heart. -Upon the soling and heeling of those boots I would have liked to challenge the -world. Surely such excellent workmanship could not have been produced by other -hands than mine. Louisa Wagner thought so, and said so, as she took them from me -and examined them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You will see," I said, "they will last for years."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They are beautifully done," she said, and I fancied she gave -me an admiring glance; "such fine stitches! You are really clever."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can earn a living," I said, and my voice trembled because -of the meaning I wished to convey in the words.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But," she said, "I cannot pay you for them for a long, long -while. You will have to wait."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In money," I said, "you can never pay me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh yes, I can, Gustave Fink," she replied.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," I insisted, "indeed you never can."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why?" she asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I did not do them for money. I wish you to accept them from -me; it will make me very proud."</p> - -<p class="normal">She thanked me quite readily, saying, "Well, if you will have -it so, Gustave Fink," and gave me the sweetest smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">I ran home in a tremor of delight, carrying her smile with me. -It is a fact. Her smiling face was before me all the way.</p> - -<p class="normal">Of course I told my linnet the news--how that Louisa had -accepted my work, and paid me for it with the sweetest smile--and the bird sang -gayly, and the rhythm and the tenderness of the song found an echo in my heart. -Up to this point the linnet was my sole confidant. Not to another creature did I -breathe my secret. None the less did I look upon myself as Louisa Wagner's -accepted lover. After what had passed--which, as you see, I magnified into the -most ridiculous importance--how could it be otherwise? I was satisfied, I was -happy. That when I could find courage to speak plainly to her she would place -her hand in mine, and permit me to touch her lips with mine, I entertained not -the slightest doubt.</p> - -<p class="normal">I was a proud young fellow the following Sunday when I saw her -walking in the boots I had repaired for her, and which looked like new. She wore -a new cotton dress, and a bit of new ribbon round her white throat, and I -settled it in my mind that they were worn for me. No man has ever tasted a -greater happiness than I did on that day. But I could not find courage to speak -to Louisa of the love which made my heart like a garden of sweet flowers. I -walked by her side and was contented.</p> - -<p class="normal">Ah, how it all comes back to me! The meeting at the church -door, the walk through the church-yard and the village till we came to her -father's cottage, the stupid talk about the boots!</p> - -<p class="normal">"I never felt so comfortable in my life," she said; "they are -as easy as if I had worn them for years. And they do not make my feet look -large."</p> - -<p class="normal">Her feet look large! In my eyes they were the feet of a -princess. Now, as she put out her foot, and I was gazing at it in a sort of -rapture, who should come up to us but a neighbor of mine, a wheelwright, Steven -Wolf by name.</p> - -<p class="normal">I can see the picture as plainly as if it were bodily before -me in the room. I turn towards the fire, and I see the picture there in the -glowing coals.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The prettiest foot in all the village," cried Steven Wolf, -"and the prettiest mouth, and the loveliest eyes!"</p> - -<p class="normal">His voice jarred upon me. It was like the voice of a brawler -calling out in the church and interrupting the service. No wonder, I thought, -that Louisa should blush as he gazed boldly at her. His look was a profanation. -To save the girl I loved from further indignity I bade her good-bye and left -her. Turning my head for a moment as I walked away, it pierced my heart like the -thrust of a needle to see that Steven Wolf had followed her into her father's -cottage.</p> - -<p class="normal">I have called Steven Wolf a wheelwright. Well, he might be -that for two days in the week; for the other five an indolent sot. He bore a bad -character in the village, and there was much suspicious talk concerning him. How -could Louisa's father encourage such a character at his hearth? But I could not -forget that old Wagner and Steven Wolf were by no means on unfriendly terms. -They were often seen together. "When Louisa is mine," I thought, "and I have the -right to protect her, she shall have nothing to say to this vagabond." When -Louisa was mine! Ah, fraught with happiness was the future I mapped out! I -resolved to speak to her soon--before the end of the week, if I could find an -opportunity.</p> - -<p class="normal">On the Monday Steven Wolf thrust his head into my little shop, -where I sat working.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What a fine pair of soles you put on Louisa Wagner's boots!" -be cried. "Here--mend mine at the same price." And he flung down a pair.</p> - -<p class="normal">I threw them back at him with passionate words. He picked them -up and walked off, laughing heartily. In the evening of the same day I saw him -and Louisa walking together, and I made the acquaintance of that torturer, -jealousy. There was no sleep for me that night. When I came upon them Louisa did -not see me, but he, looking me full in the face, gave me a malicious, triumphant -smile to feed upon. I did feed upon it for days and days till I could bear it no -longer, and determined to know the best or the worst that could befall me.</p> - -<p class="normal">I spoke to Louisa; I declared my love for her; I told her I -was able to support her, and I asked her to be my wife. She answered me in the -kindest manner, and I learned that she had already promised to become the wife -of Steven Wolf. I stood transfixed; my life seemed most suddenly and horribly to -have come to an end.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not hate me," she said. "I am very, very sorry!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot hate you," I replied. My voice was so strange in my -ears that I could scarcely believe it was I who was speaking. "I shall love you -all my days."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We are still friends," she said, holding out her hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," I said, sadly, "we are still friends. It is not -possible I could ever be your enemy."</p> - -<p class="normal">I took her hand, and held it in mine. Tears gushed from my -eyes as I felt the sympathetic pressure of her fingers.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You will see some other girl whom you will love," she said. -"You are a good man; every one speaks well of you; your wife will be proud of -you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall never marry," I said, " I love only one.</p> - -<p class="normal">Our conversation was interrupted by Steven Wolf, who stole -abruptly upon us.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No poaching!" he cried. "Respect the rights of property."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is not in that way," I said, and I confess that at that -moment I felt a deadly hatred towards him, "I should speak of the girl I was -going to marry."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You choose your way," he retorted, "and I will choose mine. -Not a bad way, is it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">And he put his arm round Louisa's waist. Her eyes were cast -down; she never looked at me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Words are wasted between us," I said. "Farewell, Louisa -Wagner. May you be happy."</p> - -<p class="normal">He sent a shout of mocking laughter after me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Truly," I could not help thinking, "in good feeling I have -the advantage of you."</p> - -<p class="normal">I suffered terribly, and for some time my mind was plunged -into such darkness that I could see no gleam of goodness in all the wide world. -That is the selfish view we take of things when sorrow comes to our door. "Why," -I asked myself, "does Louisa Wagner marry that brute and gambler instead of an -honest, hard-working youngster who not only loves but respects her? For what -reason does she prefer him to me?" If I could have answered those questions I -might be able to tell you more than I know of the workings of a woman's heart. -It is beyond me, and beyond you, and therefore I have kept myself free from -woman's power from that day to this. I recovered my peace of mind, and so that -it might not again be disturbed by the sight of the woman I loved, I left my -native village with my knapsack on my shoulders, and came here, where I set up -in business for myself as a watch-maker, and have jogged on ever since, with a -fair share of happiness and content. There is io condition of life in which a -man has not good reason to be grateful. I have grown to know this, and it has -been of value to me in my reflections upon life's trials and disappointments. I -have my work, I have my connection, I owe no one a florin, I am at peace with -the world. That is happiness enough.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">CHAPTER III.</a></h4> - -<h5>RELATES HOW GIDEON WOLF BECAME MASTER FINK'S<br> -APPRENTICE.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Year after year passed peacefully and prosperously over my -head until eighteen years had gone by. I was fortunate in many ways--in making -friends, in earning respect, in forming a connection, and in obtaining the -services of old Anna, who served me so long and so faithfully. Her age and her -lack of beauty saved me from much anxiety. She had no wooers, no men dancing at -her heels; I doubt, if I myself had offered to marry her, whether she would have -accepted me. Not that such an idea ever entered my head. Heaven forbid! I had -too great a respect for her years.</p> - -<p class="normal">One morning, at the end of this time, a woman entered my -shop--a pale, thin, elderly-looking woman, with an expression of intense -weariness on her worn face. She gazed at me wistfully, and I at her in pity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink?" she said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," I said, "I am he."</p> - -<p class="normal">As I spoke I recognized her, changed as she was. My old -sweetheart, Louisa Wagner, stood before me. It saddened me to look at her. Her -eyes were dim, her hair was nearly white; and my hair was still brown, and my -eyes clear and strong, and in my heart some gladness reigned. Ah me! Time's hand -had weighed heavily upon her during the eighteen years which had flown by since -last I saw her. Had, then, all the flowers of her life withered? No--one still -bloomed, and brought joy to her; but this I had yet to learn. No joy was now in -her face, only deep anxiety and weariness. I saw that she was ready to faint -from fatigue.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have you come specially to see me?" I asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," she sighed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where from?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"From our native village."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have ridden here?" I said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," she replied, faintly, "I walked."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Walked!" I exclaimed. " Why, it is fifty miles!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," she murmured, "it is fifty miles. What a long, long -road! But I am here at last, thank God!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I divined that it was no light errand that had brought her to -me, and it was evident that her strength was spent. It was as much as she could -do to prevent herself from sinking to the ground. I hastily summoned Anna from -her kitchen, and bade her attend to my visitor. A heart of quick sympathy beat -in my old Anna's breast, and without asking who the woman was she administered -to her wants. It was not without difficulty that this was accomplished, for -Louisa was so eager to disclose her errand that, had she been allowed to have -her way, she would not have tasted food until she had acquainted me with her -mission. But Anna insisted, and so did I, and she had not the strength to reject -the kindly offices which were forced upon her. When she had drank a basin of -nourishing soup which Anna prepared--I never really knew what soup was till Anna -made it for me; what a treasure that woman was!--I told her I was ready to -listen to her.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have come to you for help," she said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will give it to you," I replied, "if it is in my power."</p> - -<p class="normal">She bent her head humbly and gratefully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You can see," she said, "that I am very poor."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I grieve, to see it."</p> - -<p class="normal">And indeed my heart bled for her. Had the picture of her as -she was at that time presented itself to me eighteen years before, with the -words, "This is what the beautiful girl by your side will become in a few -years," I should have laughed at it in derision as a monstrous impossibility. -Her eyes that were bright as the stars, her cheek that rivalled the peach in -delicate bloom, her skin that was soft as velvet, where were they now? Ah, -Beauty, Beauty, be not over-vain and confident! Old Father Time has tricks in -store for you of which you do not dream as you walk, lithe and proud and happy, -through the flowery paths of youth. Be humble, maiden, and grateful for your -fair outside, and pray to God not to weigh you down with care and trouble.</p> - -<p class="normal">These thoughts crossed my mind as I gazed at the pale, thin -woman who had walked fifty weary miles to beg me to assist her.</p> - -<p class="normal">Presently she disclosed what she wished me to do for her.</p> - -<p class="normal">Her husband, Steven Wolf, had been dead six years, having done -his best during his life to imbitter her days. She did not tell me this; she did -not say that he had ill-treated her, had passed his hours in the ale-house, had -made her slave for him, had never given her a loving word after the first few -months of their marriage; but it was the truth. He had led her a life of misery, -and, when he died, left her in the direst poverty. She took up her burden -meekly, and battled on as women do, more bravely than men, and did her duty to -the uttermost extent of her power. Her parents were dead, and she had no friends -in a position to help her. Indeed, she led me to infer, more from the -construction I placed upon her words than from the words themselves, that the -friends of her girlhood had fallen off from her--driven away, of course, by the -vagabond she had married. But she had one treasure, one dear, priceless -treasure, which compensated for all her suffering, which kept hope alive even in -her sad life. She had a child, a boy, and his name was Gideon. Two other -children had been born to her, but she had lost them, and Gideon was the only -one left. A heavenly light came into her eyes as she spoke of him; color touched -her cheeks; her skin seemed to grow whiter and smoother. There, in the mother, I -saw once again, for a brief space, the presentment of the beautiful girl I had -loved in my youth. She told me much of her darling that interested me--how brave -he was, how truthful, bright, intelligent--how that he was the pride of her -life, and the best son a loving mother was ever blessed with.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He is growing fast," she said, her eyes beaming with pride, -"and, please God, in a few years will be a fine handsome man. I wish to perform -my duty by him; I wish him to learn a trade from an honest master who will set -him a good example. Your father, Gustave Fink, was an upright, just man, and it -was his example that helped you to become one yourself. In our little village -there is no opportunity for a lad to learn a trade that will advance him in the -world. He must learn it elsewhere, and my prayer is that I may live to see my -boy prosperous and honored, with a wife and children about him who shall look up -to him with love and respect, and with his old mother sitting perhaps in a -corner of his fireside, praising the good Lord for the blessings he has showered -upon her. Ah, what happiness, what happiness!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Her slight form shook, and her face was bedewed with tears, as -she spoke of this happy future.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you propose," I asked, "to leave the village yourself, if -you find a master elsewhere for your son?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh no," she replied with eager haste; "I should be a clog -upon him, a burden; he could not support me, and it might be that I should not -be able to support myself among strangers. No, I must stop in the old place, -where I can manage to make a living, and I will wait patiently till my son is a -man, and says, 'Mother, come to me; I have a home for you.' Oh, Gustave Fink, -you took a bold step when you left our village, a bold right step, for the world -has prospered with you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I acknowledge it gratefully," I said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This shop is your own--you are the master here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is my own--I am the master here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Be my son's master! Teach him your trade--let him profit by -your example; counsel him, guide him! You will lose nothing by it, he is so -good, so quick, so willing, so obedient! If you searched the whole world through -you would not find another lad so bright, so easy to teach and mould. Ah, -Gustave Fink, I beg of you, I implore you!"</p> - -<p class="normal">So eager was she, so fearful lest I should refuse her, that -she would have knelt to me had I not prevented her.</p> - -<p class="normal">My mind had been made up while she was speaking. Long before -she finished her appeal I knew what proposal she was about to make to me, and I -had resolved to do as she wished me to do. Do not misunderstand me. I was not -influenced by any stupid sentimentality in the matter. No, no all that had -passed away, and I was now a practical man who would not permit sentiment to -interfere with his business. I had a shrewd eye for a good bargain, and here was -one unexpectedly offered to me. Besides, was it not a fine revenge?</p> - -<p class="normal">Louisa Wolf," I said, "I will do what you desire your weary -journey shall not be fruitless. I will take your son as my apprentice, and will -do my best by him."</p> - -<p class="normal">She simply said, "God will reward you!" and then she turned -aside, and cried quietly to herself.</p> - -<p class="normal">She remained with me for quite three hours, resting herself -for her return journey home, and she accepted a trifle of money to assist her on -her way. Not a word of the days that were gone was spoken by either of us--that -will show you that there was no sentiment mixed up with this affair. I did not -mention the name of Steven Wolf, nor did she, nor did the slightest reference to -the love I had borne for her escape our lips. What we thought, we thought. It is -necessary sometimes to keep a strict watch over tongue and mind, so that our -worldly calculations may not be upset. Her lips quivered as she pressed my hand -and bade me good-bye; but it was not I who caused her emotion; it was the -thought of her son Gideon, from whom she was so soon to be separated.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">CHAPTER IV.</a></h4> - -<h5>MASTER FINK HAS A SINGULAR DREAM.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">But although in our waking hours we are generally successful -in keeping the workings of our mind in check, it is different when we are -asleep. Then we are the slaves, and imagination is the master, the magician -which plays us the most extravagant pranks. It is like sitting in a theatre, -witnessing the representation of a play which sways us this way and that, which -makes us laugh, which makes us weep, which makes us enjoy, which makes us -suffer.</p> - -<p class="normal">On the night following Louisa's departure I dreamed of the old -days and of Louisa in the pride of her beauty. I was sitting on my low stool, -soling and heeling her boots, golden boots, with jewels round the eyelet holes. -A silver hammer was in my hand, and as I tapped and tapped and drove in the -shining nails, musical notes rang out.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Louisa is yours she loves you, loves you, loves you!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And then the linnet which hung above me in a crystal cage -piped sweetly,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let me out--let me out!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I opened the door of the cage, and straight through the window -flew the little bird--through the open window, from which I saw the church and -the churchyard so closely associated with one memorable Sunday in my life. And -who should come dancing towards me over the tombstones but Louisa, dressed in -the self-same dress she had worn on that Sabbath, and with the self-same bit of -ribbon at her throat. The linnet, wheeling round and round her pretty head, -encircled it with thin lines of light, and still in the musical ringing of the -silver hammer I heard the song,</p> - -<p class="normal">"She loves you, loves you, loves you!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Suddenly we were walking in a great field of flowers, and I -was gazing in rapture at Louisa's golden boots. A thousand linnets were singing -above us, the flowers were whispering around us, Louisa's hand was resting in -mine.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then it is all a dream these eighteen years," I said to her.</p> - -<p class="normal">And she answered, "Yes, it is all a dream. How could you be so -foolish as to believe that I loved any man but you? What proof of my love shall -I give you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Make this field of flowers," I said, "grow above our heads,so -that we shall be hidden from the world, and there shall be only you and I."</p> - -<p class="normal">Immediately the flowers began to grow higher, higher, higher, -shutting out the light till we were in almost perfect darkness, and then the -linnet came and perched on my shoulder, and whispered,</p> - -<p class="normal">"She is fooling you! She is not a young girl at all; she is an -old witch! Put me in your waistcoat-pocket, and you will see what she really -is."</p> - -<p class="normal">I did so, and the linnet ticked like a watch:</p> - -<p class="normal">"She loves--not you--not you--not you. She loves--a wolf--a -wolf--a wolf."</p> - -<p class="normal">And through a pathway of light in the field of flowers ran -Louisa, changed into a shrivelled old woman with gold boots on her feet, and -after her raced Steven Wolf, who, catching her, flung her high in the air. I -rushed with fury upon the monster, and he raised a great sheet of bright brass, -and crashed it on my head--</p> - -<p class="normal">Bang! The din was enough to drive one crazy, and Louisa -screaming at the top of her voice as she spun round and round in the air, with -her golden boots--</p> - -<p class="normal">Bang! Bang! Bang! I jumped out of bed in a fright, and ran to -the bedroom door and threw it open; and there I beheld old Anna sitting in the -passage outside, crying in her loudest voice that every bone in her body was -broken, while a lot of my best plates and dishes, all in little pieces, lay -around her. She was coming down-stairs with a trayful of crockery in her arms -when she tripped, and fell all the way down. That was the end of my dream. I -could not help laughing heartily at it, which made old Anna cross-tempered the -whole of the day.</p> - -<p class="normal">After breakfast I thought over my interview with Louisa, and -of the new apprentice who would soon take up his abode with us. How his mother -would grieve at parting from him! It would never have done for me to have -married that trustful woman. She was so unworldly that she had never even asked -me whether Gideon was to receive any wages during the seven years of his -apprenticeship. It was an act of folly which would have made me angry had she -been my wife; but she had been another man's, and he had broken her heart. That -was as clear as the light which, shining through my shop-windows, had exposed -her gray hairs to the eyes of one who, years ago, was ready to die for her. To -think that, at any time of his life, a man should be so simple as to have such -ideas!</p> - -<p class="normal">So Gideon Wolf came to me, and, being duly apprenticed, lived -with me and learned my trade. Old Anna was against it from the first. I had -taken the important step without consulting her, and the moment she set eyes on -Gideon she prophesied that evil would come of his residence in the house.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have not things gone on well enough to please you, Master -Fink?" she asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They have always gone on well," I replied.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then you must be growing avaricious in your old age," she -remarked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Old age has not come upon me yet, Anna," I said, "and if I -had a grain of avariciousness in my body I would pluck it out by the root."</p> - -<p class="normal">Anna was as much a companion as a servant, and I had too great -a respect for her to be angry at anything she said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why do you make the change, then, Master Fink?" I could not -answer her without deceiving her, so I merely shrugged my shoulders and smiled.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, you may smile," she continued, "and make light of it; but -that won't alter what's done. Tell me one thing, Master Fink."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will tell you many, Anna that is, as many as I can."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When you have a watch in good going order, one that has not -lost or gained a minute for years, that you can depend upon as you can depend -upon the sun, is it the act of a good workman, out of simple wilfulness, to take -it to pieces and put it together again?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I understand your meaning, Anna, but rely upon me--I have a -good reason for what I have done. Let us not anticipate evil. Go down to your -kitchen, and prepare for me my favorite dinner, French beans stewed sweet and -sour. You have not your equal in that dish; you really make me enjoy my life."</p> - -<p class="normal">Before many months had passed I shared Anna's fears respecting -Gideon Wolf. Little by little it was made clear to me that he had a thoroughly -bad nature, that he was sly, greedy, envious, small-minded, mean-spirited. -Occasionally I sent his mother a small sum of money which I said was due for -services he had rendered; and you may be sure, in addition to this, that I paid -him fair wages. But had I known how he would turn out, I would as soon have -taken the son of the Arch Fiend himself for my apprentice as the son of Louisa -Wolf. Too late did I discover that I had made a bad bargain.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">CHAPTER V.</a></h4> - -<h5>RELATES HOW GIDEON WOLF WAS SEEN BY OLD ANNA<br> -PLAYING CARDS WITH THE DEVIL.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">He grew into a tall, thin, sallow-faced young man, about as -ill-favored as one of Pharaoh's lean kine; with large splay feet; with sandy -hair; with a nose which looked as if it had been broken in the middle by a -violent blow; with eyes as dull as the eyes of a fish; with a voice in which was -never heard a note of natural gayety. Such men are a mistake in the world, and -how any young woman can be drawn to them is a mystery which I defy students of -human nature to satisfactorily explain. A mother's love for her ugly bantling is -easily understood, but a fine young woman's, with bright eyes in her head, for -such a scarecrow as Gideon Wolf is beyond ordinary comprehension. Yet they draw -prizes these crooked-grained ones, while better men are left to sigh in vain.</p> - -<p class="normal">You have already heard how Gideon passed through his -apprenticeship, and how I continued to employ him as a workman when his time was -out. He was twenty-two years of age when, on a certain evening, old Anna, who -had been out marketing, burst in upon me with a plump goose in her hand, and -cried in a great heat,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Fine doings, Master Fink, fine doings! It is high time the -world came to an end."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What, in Heaven's name, has put you in such a fever?" I -inquired, looking up from the newspaper in which I was reading an account of a -wonderful ox, which had a man's head growing out of one shoulder and a turtle -out of the other. "Ah," I cried, in sudden fear, "that goose! You have been -cheated. It is not a fresh goose; it ought to have been eaten days ago, and the -dealer will not change it. Give it to me--I will go to him myself--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No need to trouble, Master Fink," said Anna, in a slightly -acid tone; "the goose is a good goose, and I bought it cheap. I should like to -see the dealer who could take me in. Look at it."</p> - -<p class="normal">I did more than look at it. I poked its ribs; I felt its fat -breast; my eyes glistened.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Already, Anna," I cried, joyously, "already I smell the -stuffing!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't deny it; I am fond of good cooking. It is nothing to -be ashamed of; we were sent into the world to eat, as well as to do other -things, and it is right that we should enjoy it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is not the goose that has put me in a fever," said Anna, -"it is Gideon Wolf."</p> - -<p class="normal">I pricked up my ears. "Has he been behaving rudely to you, -Anna?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What!" she screamed, in a voice so shrill that I jumped in my -chair. "He! A lamp-post like him! If he dared, I'd box his ears till I set them -on fire!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I laughed quietly; I could not help it, her indignation was so -comical. "Well, then," I asked, wiping my eyes, for I had brought the tears into -them, "what has he done?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Her reply was brief and startling: "Gideon Wolf is courting."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is not possible," I cried; "you must be dreaming."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't dream," said Anna, "with my eyes wide open. This very -evening, not ten minutes ago, as I was coming home, after buying the goose, I -saw him with his arm round her waist."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bound the goose's waist!" I exclaimed, for really she was -beginning to confuse me.</p> - -<p class="normal">She looked at me solemnly, reproachfully. "Pray to-night, -Master Fink," she said, "to be forgiven for making a joke of my words!" And she -was about, to leave me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stay, Anna," I said, conscience-stricken," and pardon me. -With his arm around whose waist?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Round Katrine Loebeg's," replied Anna, sorrowfully. "The -child--the poor, misguided child! It was only yesterday I was nursing her on my -knee and tossing her in the air."</p> - -<p class="normal">Anna was deeply moved, and I scarcely less than she, at this -disclosure. It was hardly to be believed that a fresh young heart like that -which beat in the breast of pretty Katrine Loebeg should have given itself up to -this scarecrow. But it was true. Gideon Wolf had cast a spell upon her, and she -was as secure in his wiles as a trout on a hook. Sweet Katrine Loebeg! whom I -looked upon almost as a child of my own, who could have chosen from the best, -and for whom many a manly heart was aching! An orphan, too, with no father to -protect her, and no mother to warn her of the pitfalls which lie in the path of -unsuspecting, innocent maidenhood. That made it worse--a thousand times worse. -What could there be in Gideon Wolf to attract that young soul? What unholy arts -had he used to draw her to him? Incredible as it seemed, it was most unhappily -true that he had infatuated her, and was paying court to her.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did you speak to them, Anna?" I asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; they did not see me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But surely, Anna, this was not done in the open street!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; that's where the villainy of it is. You know the archway -on the right hand side of the Court of Public Justice. At this time of the day -scarcely any one passes through it. I should not have done so had I not wanted -to go to the Blind House to give Mother Morel her paper of snuff. She is -ninety-eight, but her nose is in splendid condition. It is the only sense she -has left to enjoy. She is blind, she is deaf, she mumbles so that it is -impossible to understand a word she says, and she has scarcely any feeling in -her. Her nose is the only thing she has left which convinces her that she still -belongs to this world; it is her sole comfort. Well, when I went through the -archway no one was there, and outside the archway there were only the pigeons -picking up the crumbs; but when I came back from the Blind House, there, in the -darkest corner of the archway, was your treasure, Gideon Wolf--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't call him my treasure," I interrupted, mildly; "I have -not a high opinion of him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why did you take him as your apprentice, then? I warned you -how it would be."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is it possible," I cried, testily, "to find in this world a -woman who will tell a story without flying round it in every direction but the -right one? Get out of that archway, Anna."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There was Gideon Wolf in the very darkest part of it, with -his arm round Katrine's waist. And unless my ears are mistaken, I heard the -sound of a kiss."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When two young people are together like that, Anna, it is not -an unlikely thing to happen."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well," she asked, sharply, "what are you going to do about -it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is a difficult question to answer. What can I do?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is no difficulty. You must prevent it from going any -further."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How, Anna? In what way? Gideon is no longer my apprentice he -is his own master; he is an independent workman."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A fine workman he has turned out to be!" she cried, -scornfully. "Over and over again have I said to myself, 'Why does Master Fink -keep such a creature in the house? Why does he not bid him pack and be off?' It -would not be believed if people knew all."</p> - -<p class="normal">She was not in the secret of the little romance that was -played when Gideon's mother and I were boy and girl together. I had the greatest -confidence in Anna, but this sentiment of my youthful days I had not divulged to -any one. Besides, if in an unguarded moment I had confided in Anna I am doubtful -whether she would have sympathized with me. She would not have looked at it -through my spectacles. She might even have lost confidence in me, and that was a -risk I did not care to run.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You manage your kitchen," I said to this faithful old -servant, "and I will manage my shop. Every one knows his own business best. If I -took the liberty of suggesting to you how you should cook that plump goose you -have in your hand, I should not be surprised to feel it flying about my head, -dead as it is.</p> - -<p class="normal">"From the first day I came here," said Anna, and there was -really a touch of pathos in her voice, "everything has gone right in my kitchen. -Never a joint have I spoiled, nor a bird, nor has an ounce of fat or a slice of -bread been wasted. Out of what has been saved by careful management we have even -been able to feed the beggars. Go down-stairs now, and you will see the -saucepans, and the pans, and the moulds shining like new silver, and if you find -a speck of dust on a plate or a glass you may cut off my head."</p> - -<p class="normal">It was true, every word of it, and I should have melted into -tears had it not been for the tragic tone in which my good Anna said I might cut -off her head.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And why," she continued, and now her voice began to swell, -"do I tell you this? To praise myself--to make you think I am a miracle of a -woman? No, Master Fink, you know better than that. I am no miracle; only an -ordinary creature, who is contented when things go on in a quiet and honest -fashion. It is to prove to you how easy it is for one pair of hands to do a -thing well, and for another pair to make everything go wrong. Had <i>I</i> taken -an apprentice, some wench who thought more of her own stomach than her master's, -your meat would have been undone or done to rags, and your favorite dishes -burned to a cinder. But I would have no apprentice; the work I had to do was -done, and that was enough for me. I was not going to bring confusion upon the -house. And your shop, before you took Gideon Wolf into it, was like my kitchen, -a model. You got up in the morning, you had your meals in peace, you did with -your own one pair of hands every bit of work there was to do, you were putting -by money, and this house was a house of truth and honesty. No lies to disturb us -then, Master Fink; no deceit, no treachery, no unholy work--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stop, Anna," I exclaimed, "for Heaven's sake, stop! -Everything you have said is true, except the last. Whatever else takes place in -the house, there is no unholy work going on in it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I tell you, Master Fink," said Anna, and her voice became so -solemn that I felt the hair rising on my head, "that there is unholy work being -carried on in your house. The Evil One visits it regularly!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I stared at her with my mouth wide open. Had the most savory -morsel been popped into it at that moment I should not have been able to move my -jaws; there it would have remained, uneaten.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Explain to me what you mean," I managed to murmur.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Explain to me," she retorted, "what Gideon Wolf means, by -getting up in the middle of the night to play cards with the Devil!"</p> - -<p class="normal">You may imagine my astonishment; you might have thrown me from -my chair to the ground with your little finger. "Playing cards in the middle of -the night with the Devil!" I gasped.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, Master Fink, with the Devil. Doesn't Gideon Wolf sleep -in the next room to mine, and isn't there a hole in the wall behind the curtains -of my bed, into which I have stuffed a piece of soft rag, and tied it with a -string to my pillow, so that it can't be taken out on the other side without -disturbing me? Well, then. The first time I saw anything of Gideon Wolf's unholy -work was six months ago, when, waking up in the middle of the night, I heard him -talking to Some One in his room. My room was dark--I have nothing on my -conscience, and can sleep without a light--but in his the candle was burning, as -I saw when I quietly took the rag out of the hole and peeped through. There was -no harm in my doing it--I am old enough to be his grandmother. I knew that, -lawfully, there should be only you, me, and Gideon in the house. You were asleep -down-stairs. Who could it be, then, that Gideon Wolf was talking to? It was my -duty to see, and I am thankful that I am not a coward. Gideon was sitting in his -shirt-sleeves at his little table; his back was towards me, and, as I have told -you, there was a candle alight. He was shuffling and dealing out a pack of -cards, talking all the time in a voice you never heard, Master Fink, all the -years he has been with you. It was not a natural voice; the bad passions -expressed in it made me shudder. He dealt cards to himself and to Whoever it was -that sat opposite to him. I did not see the Being he was playing with, but it -could be nobody but Satan, who has the power of making himself invisible to any -person he pleases--and he didn't choose to show himself to me. But Gideon saw -him clearly enough, for he spoke to the Fiend, and shook his fist at him, and -swore at him, and when he was winning, grinned in his face--a diabolical grin, -such as I never saw on the face of a proper man. Now and then I thought I heard -a faint, wicked laugh from the Fiend, but I could not make sure of it. Gideon -kept an account of something--of his winnings and losings, I suppose--on pieces -of paper, upon which he wrote figures at the end of every game. 'That makes five -hundred,' Gideon said; 'that makes a thousand; that makes fifteen hundred; that -makes two thousand. Where am I to get the money from? How am I to pay you?' I -knew how he would have to pay; it was his soul that was being gambled away. It -was when Gideon was speaking in that way that I thought I heard the laughing of -the Fiend. This went on for nearly an hour, I should say, and then Gideon Wolf, -dashing the pack of cards against the wall, rose from the table with a face as -white as my table-cloths. Something seemed to vanish out of the room, and -Gideon, after muttering to himself for a minute or two, burned all the little -pieces of paper at the candle, and gathering the ashes put them in the stove. -Having done this with great care, he collected the pack of cards, blew out the -candle, and went to bed. The next morning when I went to his room I looked into -his stove, and there I saw the burned ashes of the pieces of paper, and I knew I -had not been dreaming."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But, Anna," I said, "why have you not told me this before?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Because," she replied, "you make a scoff of sacred -things--for which I am afraid you will be punished unless I pray you off; and I -try hard to--yes, Master Fink, I pray for you every day of my life."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You do me a great wrong," I said; "never in my life have I -scoffed at sacred things."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You don't believe in the Devil," she said, shaking her head -dolefully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not in the way you do, Anna. But it would be foolish for us -to discuss religious matters. When you find me doing an evil action, then will -be the time to pray for me. Did you ever see Gideon play cards again in that -way?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A dozen times at least. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he -loses. When he wins there is an unholy light in his eyes; when he loses he -curses and swears and walks up and down the room, clinching his fists and waving -them in the air. But if I had not seen what I have seen it would not alter my -opinion of him. If he were an honest man--which he is not and a handsome -man--which he is not and if he didn't play cards with the Devil--even then he is -no fit lover for an innocent girl like Katrine Loebeg. And so I shall tell her, -whether she likes it or not."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do so," I said, "and I will also speak to her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is your duty, Master Fink. You knew her father, and -respected him. If he were alive this day he would take that comrade of the Evil -One by the neck between his finger and thumb and send him spinning into the -gutter. If I were a man I'd do it myself. You seem to know very little of this -Gideon Wolf of yours. I'll tell you something else concerning him. Who do you -think he goes to see every Friday night, as regularly as clock-work?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot guess."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pretzel the miser, who lives in the Temple--Pretzel, your -enemy with the evil eye, who hasn't a friend in the world but Gideon -Wolf--Pretzel, that the little children run away from when he shows his ugly -face, and that the very dogs in the streets snarl and bark at! Now I've given -you a good stomach full, Master Fink, and I wish you joy of your apprentice."</p> - -<p class="normal">Anna was very unjust to me, but I ascribed it to her excited -feelings. She made amends to me that very night, by placing before me for supper -the goose she had bought for the next day's dinner. Ah, if women only knew the -effect of such a thing upon a man's spirits! The very smell was enough to dispel -anger and vexation. If a young girl were to come to me for counsel before she -was married, if she were to ask me how she could chain her husband to her, how -she could make him love her all the days of his life, I should say to her, "Look -after his stomach, my child. Make him nice stews and savory dishes. When he cuts -into the beef with the knife you have sharpened for him, let him behold the -gravy running out of it. It softens the heart. And when you give him a roast -goose, be sure that you give him plenty of stuffing with it." But no one could -roast a goose like old Anna. No one, no one! Upon her tombstone ought to have -been cut the words, "Here lieth a woman who could roast a goose to perfection, -and who made the finest stews in the world."</p> - -<p class="normal">When Anna placed that goose before me I gave utterance to a -long, deep sigh of satisfaction, and I looked at her with a smile in my eyes. -Her face lighted up in an instant. You should have seen it; it was like the sun -breaking out. Did I not know in my inmost soul that she had been suffering -because she believed she had done me an injustice? And in an instant everything -was cleared up through the savory steam--more eloquent than the finest words -that rose from the hot roast goose.</p> - -<p class="normal">But there is never joy without sorrow. Gideon Wolf came into -the room just as I put the knife into the breast.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A hot roast goose!" he cried, gleefully. "If I like one thing -better than another it is a hot roast goose for supper."</p> - -<p class="normal">And he drew his chair close to the table, and held out a -plate.</p> - -<p class="normal">I could not take my knife out of the breast, the fattest -slices of which I intended for my own eating, and help him to the long joint of -the leg. Sadly I laid the fat slices on his plate, and when he said, "Don't -trouble about the stuffing, Master Fink I'll help myself;" I submitted without a -word, but in silent wrath. He devoured the best part of that goose, and nearly -the whole of the stuffing. What could be expected of such a gourmand? As for -Anna, she went out of the room in such a state of vexation that I am sure she -could not have got a wink of sleep that night.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_06" href="#div1Ref_06">CHAPTER VI.</a></h4> - -<h5>PRETZEL THE MISER, WITH THE EVIL EYE.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Of Anna's revelations, those which troubled me most were that -relating to Pretzel the miser, and that relating to Katrine Loebeg. Of the -intimacy which she had discovered, by means of a hole in the wall, between the -Devil and Gideon Wolf I soon disposed. The world abounds in men who feed on -delusions, and who find their greatest comfort therein. The majority of these -men are beings who hunger after what is not within their reach, or who are -envious of their neighbors. Gideon Wolf, hungering for wealth, and seeing no -practical road to its swift attainment, flew to his imagination for the -realization of his desire. He played cards in the solitude of his room with a -Shadow, and won of it or lost to it great sums of money. There is a certain -distinction, and also a certain comfort, in this delusion. Imaginary millions -are involved in the turning up of a card, and the high play affords a triumph -when a fortune is won, and a scarcely less enjoyable despair when it is lost. So -much for Gideon Wolf's folly in playing cards with the Devil. That I did not -believe in the personality of the Evil One was, in my old Anna's eyes, a -terrible sin. She herself had the firmest belief that he walked the earth, a -solid body, horns, hoofs, tail, and all complete. No, the Devil did not trouble -me, but Pretzel the miser did.</p> - -<p class="normal">This Pretzel was, in my opinion, the most abominable man in -the town. He was a miser, and a moneylender at exorbitant interest. One hundred, -two hundred, even four hundred per cent., did not satisfy him; he was never -satisfied till he had extracted the last copper from the unhappy people who went -to him for assistance. A little, thin, dried-up old man, with a joyless laugh. -Out of his whole body I do not believe you could have squeezed a teaspoonful of -blood. The number of people he had ruined! I could not count them. And all done -under the shadow of the law. Yes, he was always, always right, and his victims -always, always wrong. The judges and the lawyers all declared so--not because -they wished to favor him, but because they were compelled to go by the letter of -the law. "I want nothing more than my rights," he would say; "look at my bond." -And there was never a flaw in it, never the smallest crevice that a poor wretch -could creep through to escape from his clutches. All, gracious heaven! A -heartless money-lender's bond. That it is necessary he should be upheld in -it--that he should be allowed to prey, to blast, to ruin, to destroy! Is there -no such thing as moral justice in this strangely constituted world? Public -opinion. Yes, yes. But what do men like Pretzel care for public opinion? Could -they not, if they pleased, buy up all the corn and the oil? If I had a son, -never, never should be become a money-lender! I would sooner see him dead at my -feet. "Look at my bond," says the money-lender; "ask my debtor if he denies his -signature." "Take what you demand," says the judge. And helpless women and -children stand by, wringing their hands and weeping tears of blood. The -money-lender sees not, hears not. He takes what he demands, and when the Sabbath -comes he kneels in church, and prays and humbles himself. It is a cheap way of -buying himself off. Though if the truth were known, and if the workings of a -man's soul could be brought into view, the heart and the mind of the ruthless -schemer would be seen to be full of triumphant figures all the time his lips are -moving with meaningless prayer.</p> - -<p class="normal">Not that Pretzel ever went to church, or ever prayed, or ever -knelt to any God but Money. No, no: there was no mock humility about Pretzel. He -gloried in his deeds, and when ruin overtook those unfortunate ones who had been -drawn into his web, he would heap reproaches upon them for their unworldliness -and their want of prudence. It was they who were the wrongers, not he. "See what -you have done," he would say; "see what you have brought upon your poor -families!" Can a more fiendish taunt be imagined?</p> - -<p class="normal">Of every person, with one single exception, with whom Pretzel -had dealings he got the advantage. That exception was myself. No one but I, in -all the town, who had borrowed money of him, could say, "I have gained something -from dealing with Pretzel." To hear that, and to be compelled to acknowledge -that it was true, cut him to the soul. You may guess how he hated me.</p> - -<p class="normal">It happened in this way: Old Pretzel did not always wait for -customers; if they did not come to him he went to them; he made business, I have -heard him say. It was not always, "I beg, I implore of you, good Pretzel, to -lend me a hundred forms; it will save me from ruin. For the sake of my wife and -children do this good deed!" It was he who sometimes said, "Why don't you borrow -two hundred, three hundred, five hundred florins of me? It will help you on. You -can buy fresh stock with it, and turn it twice over before I come to you for -payment. You will grow rich, instead of being poor all your life. I would not do -this for every one, but I take an interest in you. Think of it, for the sake of -your wife and children. Think well of it; the money is ready for you, and it -won't run away." He would cast his eyes upon a tradesman who was getting along -comfortably, and when he had calculated how much he was worth, he would go to -him and tempt him to borrow, putting all sorts of baits in his way. And he did -it so cleverly that the victim could scarcely ever remember how the whole thing -was done, and how it happened that ruin suddenly fell upon him like a clap of -thunder.</p> - -<p class="normal">Pretzel came to me--it was in the first year of Gideon Wolf's -apprenticeship; that is how those two became acquainted, by Pretzel visiting my -shop. Pretzel's words, when they were uttered in the presence of Gideon Wolf, -fell upon a rich soil. Well, he came to me many times, admired my workmanship, -admired my stock--I believe he knew to the smallest coin what it would fetch in -the market--and would say,</p> - -<p class="normal">"You ought to have a fine plate-glass window to your shop. It -would draw custom. A fine plate-glass front, with glass shelves in it, and your -beautiful watches and chains all set out in blue velvet eases. How they would -glitter! It would make people's mouths water. Everybody in the town would come -to look, and a great many would be tempted to buy. You would do three times the -trade you are doing now. You would be able to buy the newest-fashioned goods; -you would grow rich."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But it would cost a great deal of money," I would answer, "to -make these alterations."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What does it matter," he would urge, "how much it would cost -if you got it back five times, ten times over?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But I haven't any spare cash, Pretzel; all that I am worth -lies in my stock. True, I do not owe anything; what I have is all my own."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Really, Master Fink, you don't owe anybody anything--that is -an absolute fact, eh?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is an absolute fact, Pretzel."</p> - -<p class="normal">Then he would laugh slyly, and say, "An honorable, -straightforward man like you could easily borrow what he wants. Ah, how people -would stare! They would clap their hands, and say, 'What a wonderful man Master -Fink is--what a wonderful, wonderful man!' You would be looked up to, much more -than you are now, though you stand well. Yes, Master Fink, such is the power of -money that you would be made a magistrate."</p> - -<p class="normal">I thought, "Ah, if I were a magistrate, and you were brought -before me, I would make short work of you, Miser Pretzel." And I wondered to -myself why he was so anxious to lend money to me who had always spoken of him as -a villainous usurer.</p> - -<p class="normal">Day after day, week after week, he continued to pester me and -try to inflame my ambition with his cunning speech, until it entered my head to -set a trap for him. I told him, much as I should like to take his advice, that -it was not in my power, because, in an unlucky moment of my life, I had vowed -never to borrow money at interest. He opened his eyes very wide at this I don't -suppose he ever had such a thing said to him before. He tried to reason me out -of my vow, but I said it was of no use, and that nothing should ever tempt me to -break it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have you ever known me to forfeit my word?" I asked. "Is it -likely, then, that I should break a solemn oath? I admit that it was foolish, -that I am bound by it."</p> - -<p class="normal">He did not annoy me for a little while after this, but more -than once I saw him looking in at my shop-window, counting with his eyes the -watches and chains and trinkets therein displayed. Ha, ha! He was going to walk -straight into the trap. All this time I did not hold my tongue concerning him I -spoke of him freely to the neighbors as an abominable usurer, hoping that what I -said would reach his ears. Whether it did or not he exhibited no ill-will -towards me, but nodded and smiled in a friendly way when we met. And one morning -he entered my shop, and said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink, I will do you a service against your will. I -will compel you to become a rich man you shall make great profits you shall rise -in the town we want men like you to take the direction of affairs. You shall -borrow of me the money needed for alterations and improvements, and I will -charge you no interest--only, of course, you shall sign a bond to pay me on a -stated day. That is but fair."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Indeed, indeed, I do not care for it," I said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Am I not already sufficiently well off?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, you are not," he persisted. "I will do you this kindness, -so that people shall say, 'Pretzel is a good fellow; we have been mistaken in -him.' Oh, I know what some of them think of me!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The devil is never so black as he is painted," I said, -saucily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, Master Fink," he said, without a trace of displeasure in -his face, "you will have your joke, you will have your joke."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," said I to myself, "and I intend to enjoy it, and profit -by it."</p> - -<p class="normal">But although he urged and urged, I would not immediately do as -he wished; I drew him on, and within a week, so eager was he to have his fingers -in my pie, he had lent me three thousand florins for two years, without -interest. He plumped the money on my counter, and I signed a bond, undertaking -to repay it in hard coin on a certain date, and giving Pretzel the power, in -case it were not refunded to the minute, to seize my goods and furniture, and -sell me up stock and block. In the bond Pretzel had inserted words to the effect -that the money was to be handed to him at exactly twelve o'clock in the morning -by his own watch.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mind," he said, with a little chuckling laugh, "if you are a -minute later than twelve o'clock by my watch I shall take possession of all your -goods."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," I said, "I understand. At twelve o'clock on that -day you shall receive the money you are kind enough to lend me without -interest."</p> - -<p class="normal">His evil eye never had a slyer, wickeder look in it than when -he shook hands with me and wished me good-luck and good-day, leaving his three -thousand florins behind him. With his money tied up in a bag I went immediately -to the State Bank and deposited it upon interest, and there I let it remain, -without Pretzel or any person outside the bank knowing anything of the -transaction. From time to time Pretzel looked in, and asked when my plate glass -and my new-fashioned goods were to arrive. I put off his questions with an -awkwardness which I intended he should notice. He did notice it, and after some -time had passed he said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"The new watches and chains are a long time coming; I am quite -anxious to see them. Remember, I lent you the money to purchase them with."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," I said, and I pretended to be much confused, "you did -not lend me the money to purchase them with; you simply lent me the money. That -is stated in the bond, and it is not stated in what manner I should employ what -I borrowed of you. A good speculation offered itself to me, and I have invested -in it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink," he said, severely, "it was understood, if the -money was spent, that it should be spent in purchasing new stock, so that you -might increase your trade."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot deny it," I answered, "but it was only understood; -it was not written down."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You stand by the bond?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To the letter."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is well, as far as it goes; but a speculation carries -risk with it. How if yours should turn out bad?"</p> - -<p class="normal">I made a gesture of despair, clasped my hand to my forehead, -and said, dolefully,</p> - -<p class="normal">"I should be ruined! Yet, no; you are my friend; you would -never take my goods from me; you would give me time to repair my losses."</p> - -<p class="normal">His eyes travelled round my shop; there was a malicious -expression in his weazen face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The devil is never so black as he is painted, is he, Master -Fink?" be said, with a wicked grin.</p> - -<p class="normal">Thereafter he would ask me, whenever he saw me, "And how is -the famous speculation getting on, eh?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't ask me, don't ask me," I would sigh. "How fortunate for -me that I am in the hands of a man like yourself--in the hands of a friend! -Never have I beheld your money since the day on which you lent it to me."</p> - -<p class="normal">Which was as true as anything I ever spoke in my life. His -money did not trouble me; it was safe enough in the State Bank.</p> - -<p class="normal">So the first year passed, and six months of the second, -Pretzel never ceasing to question me about my famous speculation, and I never -ceasing to express my despair. During the last few months he was in the habit of -coming to me with his watch in his hand, and saying,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink, I wish you to regulate my watch."</p> - -<p class="normal">And I regulated it for him, on an average, once in every week.</p> - -<p class="normal">On the day before the money was to be repaid I went to the -bank, and drew it out in hard coin, and received, also, the interest--with which -interest I purchased, as I had previously determined, the handsome lever-watch I -have ever since worn, and the handsome gold chain you see round my neck.</p> - -<p class="normal">The morning arrived. I had a friend to breakfast with me, who -was to witness what was about to take place. Suspecting some trick, and wishing -to be prepared for it, I had arranged that this friend was to come to me at -seven o'clock in the morning, and to stay till the affair was over. I expected -that Pretzel would present himself at about a quarter to twelve, but to my -astonishment he entered my shop as half a dozen clocks on my shelves chimed a -quarter to ten. He was accompanied by a lawyer.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good-morning, Master Fink," he said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good-morning," I said.</p> - -<p class="normal">Heavens! How cunning and sharp and sly and malicious was his -look!</p> - -<p class="normal">"You know what to-day is?" he asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," I replied, "it is Wednesday."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Right; it is Wednesday; and the date, Master Fink, the date -is that on which you are to repay me my three thousand florins."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah," I cried, "it is true, it is true! How could it have -escaped me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is not my affair. This is my lawyer, Master Fink!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I bowed to the lawyer, and said to Pretzel,</p> - -<p class="normal">"You will renew the bond, will you not? You will let the money -remain with me for another two years, at the same rate of interest?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What!" be cried; "are you mad, or do you think I am?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," I said, in a rueful tone, "I am not mad, but you see the -state I am in. Unfortunate--unfortunate that I am!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is always the way," he said, appealing to his lawyer--" -that is always the way." Then to me, "Is not my demand just?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quite just; but you will continue to be my friend--you will -not ruin me!"</p> - -<p class="normal">He laughed in my face. "Master Fink," he said, "attend, to me. -Years before I lent you this money you were in the habit of reviling me and -speaking against me. You libelled and scandalized me; you held me up in the -blackest light. You were never tired of calling me a villainous old usurer."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is true," I groaned, "but I have lived to see my error. -You are upright, you are just, you are liberal."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I lent you my money," be continued, "without interest, to -prove to you and to everybody that when you spoke in that way against me you -were speaking lies, and that really I am a benevolent man." There was something -absolutely diabolical in his voice as he uttered these words. "And even then, -when I gave you the money, to my own loss--for how much more profitably it could -have been employed!--you threw into my teeth the taunt that the devil is never -so black as he is painted." (I groaned again.) "If you have been improvident -that is your affair. If you have squandered my money and lost it recklessly, you -will be spoken of as a knave, and you will forfeit the honorable name you have -been so proud of." (I gave two long distinct groans.) "I have come now for my -money, and if you are not prepared to pay me three thousand honest florins, I -will strip your house and your shop of every article they contain."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, no, Pretzel," I moaned, "you do not mean it!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I do mean it! You shall not have a bed to lie upon, nor a -spoon to eat with. You will be a beggar, a rogue, a cheat! Ask this lawyer -whether I am standing on my rights."</p> - -<p class="normal">I looked at the lawyer.</p> - -<p class="normal">"By the bond you have signed," he said, "which Pretzel holds -in his hands, if you do not pay him three thousand florins he is entitled to -carry away everything movable within these walls."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And I will do it!" screamed Pretzel, working himself up into -a state of frantic exultation; "I will do it! I can see that you have not got -the money--that you are not prepared to pay it--that you have squandered it like -a thief! You shall suffer for calling me a villainous old usurer; you shall -suffer for saying that I am not so black as I am painted! Do you see those vans -at the door? They are mine--they are mine--and I'll strip the place to the bare -walls, you honest, honorable man!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Sure enough, there at my door stood two large, strong vans, -and I strove to squeeze out a few tears at my impending ruin as Pretzel pointed -to them and flourished the bond in my face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Are you quite determined to show me no mercy?" I asked, with -a succession of such heavy sighs that I thought to myself if I had not been a -watch-maker I might have been a fine actor.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hear him!" he cried; "he implores mercy from a villainous old -usurer! Why, he must be a fool as well as a rogue!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, then," I said, and I threw myself, quite heart-broken, -into a chair, "come at twelve o'clock, when the money is due, and in the mean -time I will see if I can get my friends to help me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is twelve o'clock now," said Pretzel.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay," I replied, looking round at my clocks, which were -ticking merrily away, "it wants exactly two hours to noon. The correct time is -five minutes to ten."</p> - -<p class="normal">"By my watch," said Pretzel, pulling it out of his pocket, "it -is exactly five minutes to twelve."</p> - -<p class="normal">I looked at his watch; the hands pointed to five minutes to -twelve; there was no disputing it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your watch is wrong," I said; "it is two hours fast."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I say nothing to that," said Pretzel, eagerly watching the -second hands," you yourself have regulated it for several months past."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Twenty-two times I have regulated it," I said, "and yesterday -it was in perfect order."</p> - -<p class="normal">"One minute gone," said Pretzel; "four minutes to twelve. I -demand my money, my three thousand florins!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your watch is two hours fast; how it came so Heaven only -knows. You cannot demand your money till twelve o'clock by the right time."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are wrong. The bond says twelve o'clock by my watch. It -does not stipulate that my watch shall keep right time. Read the words for -yourself. You stand by the bond, you know, to the letter--the exact words you -spoke to me. Another minute gone; three minutes to twelve. I demand my money, my -three thousand florins!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But, Pretzel," I implored, "you cannot mean it. You will -surely not cast me into the streets--you will not make a beggar of me!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh no," he cried, "I will not make a beggar of you--I will -not cast you into the streets! I have so much reason to love you, have I not? As -for your ruin, you have brought it on yourself. This is your signature, not -mine. It is your honesty that is at stake, not mine. The villainous old usurer, -the devil that is not so black as he is painted, wants only his rights--nothing -more. Two minutes to twelve; another minute gone. I demand my money, my three -thousand florins!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bring me writing materials," I said to my friend, in a -despairing tone, "and I will write Miser Pretzel an order on the bank for three -thousand florins."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will accept no order on the bank," said, Pretzel, "for two -reasons. One is, because I should find it was not worth the paper it was written -on; and the other, because it is stated in the bond that the money is to be -repaid to me in hard coin."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You insist upon it, Pretzel?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, I insist upon it. Another minute gone; one minute to -twelve."</p> - -<p class="normal">I tapped him gently on his breast, within which I verily -believe beat the cunningest heart that mortal was ever cursed with; I made him a -low bow I smiled benignly; and saying, "What must be, must be," I took from a -drawer the bag with the three thousand florins in it, and put it into his bands.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is your money," I said, "the exact sum, in hard coin, -which I drew from the State Bank yesterday. Give me my bond, that I may cancel -it."</p> - -<p class="normal">He turned white, then yellow, then green; he trembled with -rage; he gasped for breath.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You forced your money upon me," I said, "as you have forced -it upon others. You would have ruined me, as you have ruined others. I have made -you pay for it. Out of a spirit of revenge you laid a snare for me, and thought -to entangle me in it; and now you find yourself caught in your own trap. Instead -of biting, you are bit. I put your money into the State Bank, at fair interest; -I knew it was quite safe there. I never touched it, never used a florin of it, -and with the interest I received yesterday I bought this handsome chain and this -handsome lever watch, which I shall wear as long as I live, to remind me always -that honesty is the best policy. Never, never shall it be set two hours fast or -two hours slow to entrap the innocent and unsuspecting. Count the money, -Pretzel, count the money; you will find it right to a florin; and you can carry -it away in those beautiful strong vans you have gone to the expense of hiring -for my benefit."</p> - -<p class="normal">Shaking as if he had an ague, Pretzel counted the money and -flung the bond at my feet.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You do not require me any longer," said the lawyer to him, -with an ill-concealed smile. I saw that he enjoyed the joke, and that very soon -the whole town would be laughing at the capital trick Master Fink had played -upon Miser Pretzel.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wait a moment, please," I said to the lawyer; "it is not yet -quite finished. In your presence I present Pretzel the money-lender with a small -account he owes me, and I request immediate payment of the same.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Account!" snarled Pretzel; "I owe you nothing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pardon me. Here is the account, with the items fairly and -properly set down. Twenty-two times have I regulated your watch for you, at your -own request. Why you wanted it so often examined and set in order when nothing -was the matter with it was your affair, not mine; I sit at my counter to attend -to my customers. I charge you one florin a time--in all, twenty-two florins."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are an extortionist," he said; and if he could have -scorched me to death with his evil eye it would have afforded him, I have no -doubt, the greatest satisfaction; "I shall not pay you a florin of this false -account."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is a faithful account," I said, "and if it is not paid -before twelve o'clock to-morrow--by my watch, not yours--I shall have you -summoned in the Public Court. You may take my word that I mean what I say. -Good-morning."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink," he said, with the look of a snake, "one day I -may be even with you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Till then," I said, "farewell."</p> - -<p class="normal">From that hour we had never exchanged a single word. He -prospered, and was feared and hated, and well did I know that if the opportunity -ever offered itself he would deal me a deadly blow.</p> - -<p class="normal">And this was the man with whom Gideon Wolf was consorting. -Nothing but evil could come of such a friendship. But it was of no use my -interfering between those two rascals; I should have been laughed to scorn by -the pair of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was otherwise with Katrine Loebeg. I had been kind to her; -when she was a little one I had walked in the fields with her, and we had been -merry together. I could speak to her as a father would to his child; I could -warn her; I could enlighten her as to Gideon Wolf's time character. Ah! I did -not think of the glamour which love sheds over the eyes of the young--not only -over the eyes, over the reason, over the judgment. Had I reflected a little, had -I recalled the memory of the past, when I myself was in love, I might have taken -a different view.</p> - -<p class="normal">I met Katrine the very next evening in the public street. I -spoke to her, cautiously and tenderly. She was a timid, confiding girl, with a -gentle voice, but the moment I ventured to say one word against Gideon Wolf she -turned upon me like a fury. I never supposed her capable of such spirit. It was -the passion of a mother defending her young. Ah, woman, woman! So weak, so -strong, so fierce, so tender! It puts me out of patience to think of it. A -bundle of sticks, some inflexible as steel bars, some supple as blades of -grass--that well represents the qualities of her nature. What can be said of a -man who, with some knowledge of the world, deliberately uses these astonishing, -these beautiful contrasts to his own base ends? I have my own opinion on such -matters. Perhaps I am old-fashioned. If so, thank God for old fashions! May they -never entirely die out!</p> - -<p class="normal">"What do you mean," cried Katrine, "first Anna, then you, by -coming to me, and speaking against Gideon?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Anna has spoken to you, then," I said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, she has," said Katrine, "and said such things of Gideon -as she ought to be ashamed of. She deserves to be punished for it, and so I told -her. I am not good enough for him, not half good enough. Is he not already -sufficiently persecuted, sufficiently unfortunate? But if all the world rose -against him, I would stand by his side, if he would let me, and die for him! -Yes, gladly would I die for him!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Fool that I was! Not to know that if you want to increase a -woman's love for a man, all you have to do is to speak to her against him! I -soon discovered my error, and was compelled to confess to myself that I had done -Gideon Wolf a good turn in his suit with Katrine Loebeg. So may a man himself, -by an act which he has not well considered, frustrate his own good intentions.</p> - -<p class="normal">What thrilled me through and through was to see Pretzel the -Miser, who had been secretly watching us, go to Katrine when I left her, and -walk side by side with her in confidential converse. There came to my mind the -picture of Eve and the Serpent in the Garden of Eden.</p> - -<p class="normal">Well, the best service we could now render to Katrine was to -hold our peace. Heaven knows, things were bad enough; to have set the whole town -talking would have made them worse.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_07" href="#div1Ref_07">CHAPTER VII.</a></h4> - -<h5>GIDEON WOLF PROPOSES TO ADOPT MASTER FINK<br> -AS HIS FATHER.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">On Saturdays, unless there were repairs to be executed which -were urgently required to be done, there was no work in my shop after three -o'clock. During the afternoon I generally made up my accounts and balanced my -books for the week--a task which afforded me satisfaction, for it was seldom I -did not find myself a trifle richer at the end of the week than I had been at -the beginning. A business is a real pleasure to a man when that is the case.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gideon Wolf, the moment the hour began to strike, would lay -down his tools as though they were red-hot, jump from his seat, whisk off his -apron, and be out of the shop before the clock had done striking. You can always -tell a good and cheerful workman by the manner of his proceedings when the clock -proclaims that his day's toil is at an end.</p> - -<p class="normal">While I was at my accounts, Gideon would be enjoying himself -somewhere after his own fashion, and I would see nothing more of him till -supper-time. He was frequently late at his work in the morning, but he was the -soul of punctuality at his meals. I will say that of him.</p> - -<p class="normal">On the Saturday after I had spoken to Katrine with such ill -effect, I was casting up my books as usual, and coming to Gideon Wolf's account -found him indebted to me to the tune of one hundred and eighty florins. "He will -never pay me," I thought. "The debt is not even doubtful; it is bad. Well, it is -a good thing I can afford to lose the money." Just at that moment Gideon himself -entered and stood before me. "Something is in the wind," thought I. "If he comes -to borrow more money he may save himself the trouble of asking. I do not give -him another florin." And I went on with my adding-up.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink," said Gideon, "I wish to speak to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, Gideon, yes," I said, drawing a double line with my -ruler, a thick one and a thin one; I kept my books very neatly, and often turned -over the leaves with pride. "What have you to say?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am not getting along well, Master Fink."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is plain," I said, with my eyes on his account.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I might go on like this for fifty years," he continued, "and -I should be no better off then than I am now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It really appears so," I said; "and to be honest with you, -Gideon, if all the people I had dealings with resembled you, I should myself be -no better off."</p> - -<p class="normal">I said this quite calmly and dispassionately. It is hurtful to -a man to be forever angry about things he cannot alter for the better, be he on -the right or the wrong side with respect to them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have served you faithfully, Master Fink. As apprentice and -workman I have worked for you for more than ten years."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," said I, "it is more than ten years since you first -entered my shop." And there rose before me the vision of his mother, my old -sweetheart, as she appeared to me ten years ago, to beg me to take her son as my -apprentice and make an upright man of him. Conscientiously had I endeavored to -do my duty by him, to guide him in the straight path, to make him truthful, -industrious, honest, and brave. As well might I have striven to alter the nature -of a fox, and to instil into the heart of that treacherous animal noble and -faithful qualities. Sadly did I confess that his mother's cherished dreams of -the future could never be realized, and that she would one day awake to the -bitter reality.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink," said Gideon, the years I have worked for you -have been wasted. I stand here today without a florin, compelled to do without -many things I desire to possess."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is a common calamity," I remarked "all men suffer from -it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We are sent into the world," said Gideon, gloomily, "with a -common right, the poor as well as the rich, to enjoy what there is in it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, ah," thought I, "is this young man a member of one of -those secret societies I have read of, whose aim it is to root up the very -foundations of society?" And I said aloud, "Yes, to enjoy what belongs to us, -what we have worked for and honestly earned. Proceed, and leave politics out of -the question. You say that the ten years you have worked for me have been as -good as wasted. Have you not learned a trade?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"My pockets are empty," he retorted. "Suppose that I wished to -settle in life--" He paused suddenly.</p> - -<p class="normal">I took up his words according to my understanding of them. -"All, then, is arranged between you and Katrine Loebeg."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What do you know about her?" he cried, with a dark flush in -his face. "Why do you mix up our names?"</p> - -<p class="normal">The rascal! I could have knocked his head against the wall!</p> - -<p class="normal">"Be careful, Gideon, be careful," I said, half warningly, half -threateningly "more is known about you and Katrine Loebeg than you seem to be -aware of. People are not blind."</p> - -<p class="normal">He bit his lips. "What there is between Katrine and me is our -business, and concerns no one but ourselves."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are in error. Katrine was born in this town, and she is -an orphan. She is regarded with eyes of affection by many, and I could name -worthy parents who would gladly receive her as a child of their own. See that -you deal honestly by her. You did not finish what you were about to say. Suppose -you wished to settle in life--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"How should I be able to do so? If I set up for myself as a -watch-maker in this place, either you or I would have to put up our shutters. -There is not room enough for two."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The world is wide, Gideon."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But if I wish to stop here?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stop here, in Heaven's name! Who prevents you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I did not expect you would mock me, Master Fink," and from -biting his lips he took to biting his nails. "I have a proposition to make to -you. Having worked for you so long it is natural I should look for some -advancement. I will work for you for two more years at the present rate, and at -the expiration of that time you shall admit me as a partner in your business. -You have no son to take care of you in your old age. I will be your son; I will -take care of you. Then all will be well with us."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The murder is out," I thought. "Now I will see how far he -will go."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In plain words, Gideon," I said, "you propose to adopt me as -your father. How can I thank you for your generous proposal! Of course it would -have to be a settled agreement between us."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course," he said, eagerly.</p> - -<p class="normal">I remained silent for a little while, with my head resting on -my hand, and I saw, without looking up, that his eyes never left my face. "The -villain!" I thought. "He thinks the hook is already in my gills. I will remain -silent just long enough to make him believe he has me safe. A fine idea, truly, -to take this envious, idle knave as my partner. In three years I should find -myself penniless, without a roof to my head. If it were not for his mother, whom -I once loved, I would bid him pack off without another word. I am to allow him -to adopt me as his father, am I? I am to put myself into his charge, for all the -world as though I needed a keeper! A lunatic, indeed, I should prove myself to -be by so doing. He must think that mankind were made for him to prey upon. Do I -not put up with his blunders and bad workmanship--ay, and with something worse -which I have never given utterance to? Because I am silent on the matter, he -does not suspect that I know him to be a thief, and that I could send him to -prison for what he has done. But for his mother's sake I will spare him. I will -not bring shame and disgrace upon the gray hairs of the woman who brought into -my life its most beautiful dreams, and who made the mistake of choosing a -vagabond instead of me. She has suffered enough, and my hand shall not be raised -against her. Ah, you gambler and schemer, Gideon Wolf, I could find it in my -heart to strike you where you stand!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Thus I thought and mused, while Gideon stood before me, -reckoning up the chickens I had hatched, and calculating how many gold-pieces -they would sell for.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gideon Wolf," I said, in as gentle a tone as I could command, -"your proposal springs from a heart beating with consideration for your old -master. It displays your nature in a beautiful light. But have you fully -considered the sacrifice you propose to make; have you debated the subject with -yourself in a calm and serious spirit; are you quite prepared to waste two of -your most valuable years in my service, before you can hope to reap the reward -to which you believe yourself entitled?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have fully considered," he said, with gracious arrogance; -"I am quite prepared."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There are so many things," I said, laughing inwardly, "that -may have escaped one of less experience than yourself. In human life so many -unforeseen circumstances occur! I am hale and hearty and strong; yet -unexpectedly the angel of death may call me to my account."</p> - -<p class="normal">He held his hand before his eyes, which were as dry as a -stone.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not speak of such a calamity," he said, in a broken voice; -"it cuts me to the heart. But even then you could provide for me. You are alone -in the world; you have no family to whom you would care to leave your -possessions."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And I might leave them to you!" I cried, in the tone of a man -upon whom a blessed inspiration had fallen. "I might make a will, constituting -you my heir! True, true that would be the best way--by far the best way."</p> - -<p class="normal">His face glowed with exultation. "You are too good, my -master," he said, drawing his breath quickly. "You think of everything. It would -never have occurred to me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How could such a thing be possible?" I cried, in assumed -indignation at the injustice he was doing himself. "You are the last person who -would calculate upon gaining anything by my death. But still consider, Gideon, -what you might be throwing away by tying yourself to me. You have seen but -little of the world, and you do not know how many lonely rich men there are who -would gladly throw themselves into your arms if you made them understand what -you are ready to sacrifice for them."</p> - -<p class="normal">Certainly this young man was fool as well as rogue, for he -accepted every word I spoke as the utterance of sincerity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why waste more time?" be asked, with a complacent glance at -that portion of my stock which was displayed to attract customers--among which -were six fine fat gold lever watches, eighteen-carat hunters; six others, -open-faced; four lady's dainty toys, with enamelled cases, set with diamonds a -couple of dozen silver watches, with perfect movements and one marvel of -workmanship, which told not only the time but the day of the year, the name and -date of the month, and the changes of the moon. Then there was a fine collection -of trinkets, chains, and rings, brooches, and the like, all paid for with the -labor of my hands. And Gideon Wolf was standing beneath the fruitful vines, with -his mouth wide open, waiting for the grapes to fall into it. But he was not the -only fox in the world who met with disappointment. "Why waste more time?" he -asked. "I am a man to be trusted, and what I mean I say. After all the years I -have passed in your house, it would be black ingratitude in me to desert you in -your old age."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Am I so very old, Gideon?" I murmured.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are not young, Master Fink."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But I feel sometimes as if I still had a little strength left -in me; I do indeed, Gideon."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The strongest are cut down when they least expect it," he -said, showing me the whites of his eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is Anna," I said; "she has been with me a long time, -and her heart is full of kindness towards me. She would take care of me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of what use are women?" exclaimed Gideon, scornfully. "They -are mere playthings."</p> - -<p class="normal">I sighed, "Alas, for poor Katrine!" and then said, "You have -no cause of complaint against me, Gideon. You have been well and justly treated -in my house. You acknowledge it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, Master Fink, I acknowledge it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You do not, I am sure, harbor any uncharitableness towards -your old master."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I should despise myself if I did."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Fair wages all the time you were my apprentice, Gideon. This -home is not to be despised. It is not a palace, it is true, but it is better -than many palaces. The rain does not come through the roof and your bed--it is a -comfortable bed, Gideon?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, it is a comfortable bed."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then Anna is a good cook--one in a thousand. You have always -had plenty to eat."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have nothing to complain of, Master Fink, nothing whatever. -You have been a good and kind master, and I am going to show my gratitude. It is -a bargain--you consent to my proposition. We commence from this day."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay," I said, deeming it time to end the comedy; "it takes -two to make a bargain;" and I rose and made him a low bow, just the kind of bow -I made to Pretzel the Miser a good many years before, when he came into my shop, -ready to strip me of every stick I possessed. "I will never consent to the -sacrifice; it would be a reproach to me all my life. No, Gideon, I will not be -adopted as your father; I will bear my burden alone. You shall grow rich in an -easier way; you will find it, I make no doubt, for you are a sharp customer. -Perhaps Miser Pretzel will make you his heir." Gideon's face, at the mention of -Pretzel's name, was as white as milk, and I was confirmed in a suspicion which -had crossed my mind, that Pretzel had a hand in counselling him to the end he -wished to gain. "He is rolling in money--and so very, very generous! He once -tried to do me a good turn. Or perhaps the invisible gentleman you play cards -with in the middle of the night may, some time or other, lose a large sum of -money to you, and bring it to you in a number of sacks. How wonderful that would -be, would it not? So let what has been spoken between us be forgotten, as though -it had never happened. And when you are rich," I said, closing the book in which -his account was entered, and giving it a little tap, "and riding in your -carriage, you shall pay me what you owe me, and get out of my debt. I hope you -will give me your custom, as a slight return for the just treatment you have -received in my house."</p> - -<p class="normal">His face was dreadful to look at. Rage, terror, venom, in -their most baleful aspects, were expressed in the play of his features. Had I -been a weak old fellow I think he would not have restrained the impulse to put -his fingers round my throat but he was aware of my strength, and we were both -spared unpleasant consequences.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So," he said, slowly, "you have been playing with me; you -have been mocking me; you have been acting the part of spy and eavesdropper. You -treat me as you would treat a dog that you can kick about at your pleasure. -Because you are rich and I am poor, you think you have the right to crush me -under your feet. Oh, if I had the power!--"</p> - -<p class="normal">And he ground his teeth, and left me without another word.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a hard punishment I had dealt out to him, but he -deserved it. He was a rascal from the hairs of his head to the soles of his -feet.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_08" href="#div1Ref_08">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h4> - -<h5>MASTER FINK RESOLVES TO UNDERTAKE A JOURNEY.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">All that night Gideon Wolf occupied my mind. I thought of him -and dreamed of him, and when I rose in the morning it seemed to me that I had a -duty to perform which it would be a sin to neglect. Anna was very much -astonished when I told her after breakfast, Gideon not being present, that I was -going a journey on the following day, and should be absent for a week.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How will you be able to live away from home?" she exclaimed. -"You have never slept a night out of the house all the years I have been with -you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A proof," said I, "that I deserve a holiday."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who will air your sheets for you? Who will cook your meals? -You will come back as thin as the leg of a fly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall enjoy your cooking all the more when it is placed -before me again. Do not fear, Anna--I shall be able to manage. It is not -pleasure that calls me away; it is duty. I shall take only my knapsack with me, -and I shall leave the place in your charge."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It will be taken good care of," she said wiping her eyes; the -foolish creature had been actually shedding tears at the thought of my leaving -her for a short time; "only I will not have Gideon Wolf in the house while you -are absent. I will not cook a meal for him--no, Master Fink, not for all the -money you can offer me; and I will not sleep in the house alone with him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then," I said, by no means displeased at the opportunity she -offered me, "I shall tell Gideon that he must get lodgings elsewhere. It may be, -Anna, that he will not remain with us much longer."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall dance for joy," she said, nodding her head a great -many times, "when he goes for good. It is not for good that he stays."</p> - -<p class="normal">If Anna was surprised at my resolution, Gideon Wolf was filled -with consternation upon my telling him that there would be no business done in -the shop for a week.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is to become of me?" he cried.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I really cannot tell you," I replied. "It must be quite plain -to you that there is not much love lost between us. Our conversation yesterday -was not the pleasantest in the world, and you left me in a very insolent manner. -You said things which I shall not easily forget. You are a man, and you must -shift for yourself in the best way you can. I do not presume to dictate to you, -or to offer you advice."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink," he said, cringing, "I am sorry for the words I -spoke when I left you yesterday. I will beg your pardon if you wish me to."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I do not wish it. Yon are humble now because you are -frightened. It may be, Gideon, when I return from my journey, that I may still -be disposed to act as your friend; I tell you honestly that it depends upon -circumstances and what happens to me during the time I am away."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where are you going?" he asked, with a look of keen -curiosity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall not tell you; I am my own master, and my movements -are free. It remains for me to inform you that you cannot remain in this house -during my absence."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What! You turn me out-of-doors!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It can scarcely be regarded in that light," I said; "you will -not be in want of a bed. Anna will be the master here, and she will not have you -near her. You have managed to offend her in some way, and she declares she will -not cook a meal for you for all the money I could offer her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She is a cat!" snarled Gideon.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, at all events she has a set of long, sharp nails, and I -should advise you to be civil to her. You remember what I told you yesterday -about the invisible gentleman you play cards with in the middle of the night. -Anna has got scent of it, and she vows she will not sleep in the house with you -and that--that strange friend of yours, unless she has a man to protect her. You -see, Gideon, there is no help for it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have no money to pay for lodgings elsewhere," he said. "Are -you going to leave me to starve?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; here are two watches to clean and regulate; let them be -in first-rate going order at the end of the week, and I will pay you more than -your food and lodging will cost you. As for starving at any time, are you not an -able-bodied man, with a strong pair of hands, and a good trade at your fingers' -ends? No man who is willing to work need starve in this town."</p> - -<p class="normal">The watches I gave him to repair were of little value, and I -could easily have replaced them in case they were not returned to me, so the -next morning, which was Monday, I affixed to my shutters a notice that I was -called away on important business, and should be absent for a week. Then I shook -hands with my old Anna, who arranged my knapsack for me, and bade her good-bye. -She was much affected. Had I been her husband or her son she could not have -exhibited a deeper concern at my departure; her tenderness touched me to the -heart. Something else worked also upon my feelings. There was an appetizing -fragrance in my knapsack proceeding from some delicacy which Anna had cooked for -me; I could not help smelling it, although my nose was in the middle of my face, -and not at the back of my head.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_09" href="#div1Ref_09">CHAPTER IX.</a></h4> - -<h5>RELATES WHAT KIND OF HARVEST MASTER FINK GATHERED IN THE COURSE OF HIS JOURNEY.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The duty I had set myself to perform was to speak to Gideon -Wolf's mother concerning his doings. I would tell her, gently and kindly, that -he needed counsel from some one to whom he would listen with respect. Who was -better able to enforce this advice than the mother who had nursed him at her -breast? She should learn all about Pretzel the Miser's character, and how that -association with a wretch so vile could be productive of nothing but evil. I -would speak to her also about Katrine Loebeg, and beg her to save that innocent -young girl from shame. Moreover, I was prepared to advance her a small sum of -money, with which her son could set up business in another town, at some -distance from me, where there was no watch-maker, and where one could do a fair -trade. I would lend the money to her, not to Gideon. If she repaid me, well if -not, well. It would not ruin me. With industry, and with his mother living with -him to attend to his wants and do the household work, he might in time get -better thoughts in his head, and become a respectable member of society. This -would I do for my old sweetheart's sake.</p> - -<p class="normal">The direction, therefore, I took was towards the village in -which I had passed my youthful days and dreamed my youthful dreams, the village -of which Louisa was once the pride and the beauty, and in which she still lived, -a broken-down woman, old before her time, on whom the years had pressed with a -bitter hand. One friend and another came out of their shops and houses to shake -hands with me and ask questions about my journey, for the knapsack on my -shoulders excited their curiosity. They all had kind and neighborly words for -me, and nodded and smiled when I told them I was going to take a holiday and do -a little business at the same time. Never till that day did I know how much I -was respected by my neighbors, and how sincere was the affection they -entertained for me. These feelings were mutual. There are memorials which grow -in silence and stillness, of the growth of which we are almost unconscious until -some action of ours out of the ordinary groove brings them into view and then -there is suddenly revealed to us a full-bearing tree of love or hate. One good -woman insisted upon my stopping at her door. Running to the rear of her house -and running quickly back again, she brought me a beautiful white rose, which she -stuck in my coat.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Going a-courting, I do believe," she said, with a merry -smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am past that long ago," I replied.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, indeed," she said "if you cared to ask, you would not be -single at the end of the year."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, then," I said to her little girl, about six years old, -who was clinging to her gown, "will you marry me, little maid?" The child hid -her face in her mother's dress, and blushed as if she had been fifteen. "There -now," I said, "what did I tell you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">I stooped and kissed the little maid, and she gave me two -kisses for my one.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If that answer doesn't satisfy you," said the gay-hearted -mother, "you are hard to please. Mind! I shall keep you to it!"</p> - -<p class="normal">So we parted, blithely.</p> - -<p class="normal">Pleasant bits these to meet with by the waysides. And the best -of it is, even the humblest and poorest may earn them if they are so minded.</p> - -<p class="normal">The knapsack on my shoulders was the same which had -accompanied me on my youthful travels, and though I had not worn it since that -time, it felt like an old friend to me. I had determined to walk the best part -of the way, out of a sentimental desire to renew acquaintance with scenes I had -not set eyes on for five and twenty years. I knew that I should be overtaken on -the road by carts and wagons on which I could get a lift when I was tired.</p> - -<p class="normal">There are others besides myself who, in their middle or old -age, have started upon such an excursion, and who have retraced, as it were, the -roads of life with feelings of pensive sadness and wonder at the change that has -come over them. I have read of countries in which people live at such a rapid -rate that everything in them is constantly changing its condition; where in a -year the roads are so altered that you cannot recognize them as the same over -which you travelled but yesterday; where dwellings are being continually pulled -down and built up again; where villages grow into towns, and towns into cities, -with magical swiftness; where farm-houses disappear, to make room for mansions; -and where the people, young and old, are afflicted with such a restlessness in -the soles of their feet that they keep running from this spot to that, and from -that to this, in their eager haste to acquire land and money and houses. It is -not so with us, and despite the grand talk about the march of progress and the -advance of civilization, I do not believe we are any the worse off for it. We -move slowly along, and there are not many who desert their native place in their -youth, and pass their manhood in a distant spot. True, I had done so, but there -was a heart-reason for it. I have no doubt, if Louisa had chosen me for her -mate, I should have been in the old village at this moment, surrounded by my -children. In the countries of which I speak wanderers like myself are deprived -of a sad and sweet pleasure, such as stole into my heart as I passed and -recognized old familiar scenes made dear to me by the years which had passed -since they and I last greeted each other. For, indeed, it was not only I who -greeted them, it was they, also, that greeted me. The trees, the woods, the -farm-houses, the vineyards, the wayside inns, the scores of familiar landmarks -which met my eyes, all seemed to say, "Ah, old fellow, here you are once more. -We have often wondered what had become of you. Where have you been hiding -yourself all this long while? We are glad to see you alive and well. -Welcome--welcome!" Yes, it is true, they all welcomed me, and were rejoiced to -see me, and I waved my hands and smiled at them, in response to the spiritual -greeting which brought gladness and sadness to my soul. A sweet spirit of repose -pervaded my being, and even in my sadness there was no unhappiness. Here was an -old windmill, within view of the moving sails of which I had rested -five-and-twenty years ago, thinking of Louisa Wagner; here the great stone, -embedded in the earth and covered with moss, upon which I sat. The sails were -revolving now, and the sight brought back to me the very thoughts which agitated -me then. Ah, how I suffered, how I suffered! "Take with you all my hopes," thus -did I muse at that long distant time--"take with you all my hopes, and grind -them into dust." And now, as I sat upon the ancient, moss-covered stone, the -heart's storm was hushed, the tempest of the soul was stilled. I breathed a -prayer, and was grateful. That is the most beautiful time of a man's life, when -he feels at peace with himself and the world. So might an aged father, after a -long and varied life, gaze upon his old wife and beautiful children, and say, -"Thank God!" Everything I saw contributed to my enjoyment. The orchards in which -the plums were ripening and the apples blushing like young maids, the fir-trees -bending solemnly above me in the heights, the hedges, the hay-ricks, the cattle -drinking in the lowlands, the ponds in which the ducks were swimming, the fowls -scratching at the earth, the brooks, the streams, the pigeons flying to their -steepled houses, the very children who looked at me as I passed--all were the -same as I had seen in my younger days. They had not grown an hour older, not an -hour. There came a troop of youngsters on their way home from school, caps and -frocks and boots and books, all the same. They followed me, singing an evening -song, and I rewarded them and made them happy. A cow stood with her head over a -fence, and gazed at me with mild, serious eyes. Two young colts, running towards -me with side-twistings of their bodies, suddenly stopped, transfixed. And there -was the inn at which I had rested for the night, and the wife of the innkeeper, -with a baby in her arms. All the same--all the same--young and sweet and -beautiful as in the days gone by. Ah, what a pleasure to me was that journey, -and what reflections passed through my mind as I thought of the more pregnant -journey I had taken on the roads of life since I had torn myself from my native -village! It is good occasionally to give one's self up to these thoughts. At -such times the trouble and vexation of our days sink into insignificance, and -are of less importance than the bird which flies in the air, than the leaf which -flutters in the wind. At such times we learn the truest lessons.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was soon over, that excursion of fifty miles, as all things -are and shall be, for time is but a breath; and on the morning of the third day -I entered the village in which I was born.</p> - -<p class="normal">I made my way at once to the cottage in which Louisa had -resided with her parents. It was inhabited by strangers. Upon inquiry I learned -that she lived in a hut on the farther outskirts of the village. I recognized no -one; no one recognized me. I went to my old cottage, the cottage in which my -father and grandfather and great-grandfather had lived, and in which I had soled -and heeled Louisa's boots. It was now a little shop in which sweetmeats and -children's toys and cakes were sold. I asked the woman to allow me to go through -the rooms, and told her I was born there.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then you must be Gustave Fink," she said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," I answered, "I am Gustave Fink."</p> - -<p class="normal">It was supposed, I discovered, that I had made a great -fortune, and that I was rich enough to buy up the entire village. This -impression was confirmed by my purchasing, at a cost of less than half-a-florin, -toys and cakes for all the children who were looking at the treasures in the -window. But it seemed to me, after the first greeting, that the woman gazed on -me with displeasure, as on a man who had committed some grievous wrong. I -dismissed the fancy. What earthly grounds could there have been for such a -feeling?</p> - -<p class="normal">From my old house I went to the church, and lived over again -the Sabbath morning walk I had taken with Louisa, in her new cotton dress and -the bit of new ribbon at her throat. I read the inscriptions on the tombstones, -and was strangely affected. Many whom I had known had passed away years ago. All -these years at peace, with the grass and the wild-flowers growing over them, -while all around the hearts of men and women were still throbbing with wild -desires, with unsatisfied yearnings, with longings and temptations. Ah, what a -lesson, what a lesson! Wait but till to-morrow, when death's icy hand shall stop -the beating of the pulses, when the great king, Dust, shall claim them for his -own! How blind, how blind! If men would but kneel and sincerely pray, and hold -out the kindly hand to their fellows! If they would but learn the lesson aright!</p> - -<p class="normal">The simplest flower teaches it. Behold me, radiant, blooming, -bright-eyed, perfect in outward form and in every hidden vein. It is the summer, -and warm breezes kiss me, and the life-giving sun shines upon me, and I live--I -live--I live! It is the winter, and I am dead. Seek me in vain I am crumbling -into dust.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the seed remains.</p> - -<p class="normal">So shall the seeds of good deeds remain, and blossom into -flower.</p> - -<p class="normal">The church door was open. I entered, and knelt and prayed.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_10" href="#div1Ref_10">CHAPTER X.</a></h4> - -<h5>MASTER FINK HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH THE WOMAN<br> -HE LOVED.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">An hour past noon I stood before Louisa Wolf's hovel. It was -nothing more; it would have been mockery to call it a cottage.</p> - -<p class="normal">I looked in at the window it was almost bare of furniture, and -I recognized that whoever inhabited it must have a hard fight to keep body and -soul together. And in the room was an old, old woman--none other than Louisa -Wolf.</p> - -<p class="normal">She was but forty-five, but she looked seventy when she opened -the door to my knock.</p> - -<p class="normal">She fell back when she saw me, as though she had received a -mortal wound. I hurried forward to support her, but she thrust me fiercely off, -and retreated a step or two. I entered without invitation, and surveyed with -wonder and compassion the miserable apartment. When, after this melancholy -survey, I looked at Louisa Wolf, I was astonished to observe that a dark frown -had settled on her face, and that she was regarding me with aversion. I had not -long to wait before I was enlightened as to the cause of this unwelcome and -unexpected reception.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What do you do here?" she muttered. "What do you do here?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have made a long journey," I said, "especially to see you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How have I deserved so great an honor," she asked, her eyes -flashing scorn at me, "from one so powerful and rich? You have something to say -to me--of course you have, else why should you have troubled yourself to come to -me? Is what you have to say about a man or a woman, Gustave Fink?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is about your son Gideon," I replied.</p> - -<p class="normal">"About my dear son Gideon," she cried "I guessed as much, I -guessed as much! It is for evil you are here--you are capable of nothing else. -Have you come to complain of my boy? Have you come to set a mother against her -son? Well done, well done, Gustave Fink! Have you come to tell me that Gideon -ought to work twenty hours a day for you instead of eighteen, and that he does -not pay his debt to you quick enough to satisfy your grasping soul? How is it -possible, when you starve him, when you cheat him, when you rob him of his rest? -Is that the way to treat the man who has slaved for you, who has worked his -fingers to the bone for you, who has made you rich, and who brings all the -custom to your shop? Yon would have been in the gutter had it not been for the -exertions of my noble boy, who found out too late that he was bound to a monster -without a heart. Did you think I was ignorant of your wicked doings? Evil -actions such as yours cannot be forever hidden. Go, go, or I shall strike you!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And indeed she raised her feeble hand to put her threat into -execution.</p> - -<p class="normal">I comprehended instantly the lying and backbiting that had -been going on, and the kind of character that villain Gideon had been giving me -all the time he had eaten my bread and been sheltered under my roof. This was -the return he had made for my kindness and consideration. Where could that young -man have got his secret and wicked mind from? Not from his mother, whose heart -had been always open to tender impressions, and who, the moment she saw me, -could not help speaking frankly. It was the father who had bestowed upon his son -the curse of his venomous nature. Heavens! What some parents have to answer for! -There must have been a time in the world when human creatures were suckled at -the teats of treacherous animals.</p> - -<p class="normal">How could I be angry with the unfortunate woman? I pitied -her--from my heart I pitied her. What a fate was hers! First the father, then -the son. She was born to be deceived. She put her trust in rocks that wounded -her body and brought anguish to her soul. In what way was it all to end?</p> - -<p class="normal">My mission was useless, I saw that clearly enough, and I was -almost tempted to exclaim, "Never again will I attempt to do good to any living -creature!" I had been animated by the best intentions, and they were turned as -poisonous arrows against me. After what I had heard I was convinced that Louisa -Wolf would put a wrong construction upon every word I uttered concerning her -son. Her mother's love was too strong a shield for me to hope to produce any -good effect upon it in my desire to assist her. Perhaps it was as well; it was -labor saved. Her son's nature was too bad to be altered for the better; it was -rotten to the core.</p> - -<p class="normal">But I was desirous to ascertain the full extent of his -misrepresentations.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You know, then," I said," how much your son is indebted to -me."</p> - -<p class="normal">My amazement was great when she mentioned a sum it would have -taken him twenty years to repay.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, I know, I know!" she cried, in terrible agitation, -invoking, by the movement of her hands, Heaven's imprecations on my head. "You -have set it all down against him, every florin, and added devil's interest, so -as to make him your slave for life. From the first week he became your -apprentice you brought him in your debt, and you continued to do so day after -day, week after week, till his time was out. He could not leave you as he wished -to do, because you had in your false books page upon page of figures, which you -told him he must clear off. You threatened him with prison if he left in your -debt. You would like me to believe that it is not true--you would like me to -believe that you are an honorable, good man, and that my son is a thief; but, -Gustave Fink, you can no longer deceive me. There was a time--but it is past I -have been warned against you. My son has told me--yes, he has told me in his -letters that one day you would seek me out, and endeavor to make me believe that -he is worse than you are yourself. You can save the lies; keep them to use on -some other poor woman. Where is Heaven's justice that such men as you prosper, -while honest, upright men are made to suffer? Gideon might dispute the debt--he -might take you before the judges, and say, 'My master is a rogue his accounts -are false; he makes me largely in debt to him because he does not wish me to -leave his service.' Of what use would it be? A poor man against a rich man--we -know what that comes to in law. And you have made people think you are so good. -Kind Master Fink! Benevolent Master Fink! That is how they speak of you--those -who are not acquainted with your real character. You would have had <i>me</i> -believe it by sending me money from time to time, and putting down twice the sum -in your books against Gideon. You have done yourself no good; every florin you -have sent me I have sent back to my poor boy yes, every florin. I have wanted -bread over and over again, but I have fasted for days rather than spend the -smallest coin of your money upon myself. It was my son's money you were sending -me, not your own. But your punishment is coming. Gideon is your slave; he will -not be so much longer. He will be free soon, and then he will expose you, and -will let me live with him. He will be rich one day, mark my words, and you will -have to stand aside and bow to him. And I shall be with him--it will break your -heart to see him and his loving mother together at last, you who have tried your -hardest to keep us apart. Every year I have hoped to go to him, but you have -compelled him to put me off. 'Not this year,' he has been obliged to write, 'not -this year, but next. Master Fink will not hear of it yet awhile, and he has so -got me in his power that I dare not offend him by asking you to come.' And then -again, when another year went by, 'Master Fink swears he will discharge me if -you come, and will imprison me for the money he says I owe him.' And again and -again and again the same. What could my poor boy do when you had set your heart -upon separating us? So it has gone on all these weary years, and I have never -kissed my boy's bright face since the unhappy day he left me to become your -apprentice. What wicked thing had I done in my life that I should be so bitterly -punished? What evil fortune led me to your door to beg you to rob me of my son? -Better that I had dropped down dead on the road, for then Gideon would have -remained among friends." Tears streamed from her eyes; her face was convulsed -with grief. "What pleasure," she continued, wringing her hands and swaying to -and fro, "do you think I have in this world except him, my boy, my baby that I -suckled at my breast? What do I care for in the world but him? Has my life been -so full of joy that you should bring a deeper misery into it than any I have -suffered? You are my son's enemy and mine--oh, I have known it long! You were my -enemy when I was a girl, and you used to speak against Steven because I chose -him instead of you."</p> - -<p class="normal">I had listened in profound sorrow and indignation to the -outpourings of her grief, but for the life of me I could not remain silent at -this accusation.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Louisa Wolf," I said, "I never spoke against your husband. -What I thought I thought, but I never openly uttered one word against Steven -Wolf. You were free to choose, and you chose. With all my heart I wish that your -choice had brought you greater happiness."</p> - -<p class="normal">When I saw her eyes wandering mournfully round her cheerless -apartment I was angry with myself for having spoken. It would have been more -generous by far to have held my tongue.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah," she said, shuddering, "this is part of your -revenge--this is why you come here--to exult and rejoice over my misery! Years -ago you resolved in your heart that you would one day be revenged upon me for -refusing you and accepting another man. Well, you have your revenge! Look at my -home--you see the whole of it. There is no other room. Here is my bed--a little -straw on the bare boards. Here is the cupboard in which I keep my food when I -have any. Take your fill, take your fill--you are well revenged. Look at my -face--look at my hands--see what I have come to, and rejoice!" She struck her -breast despairingly. Into my eyes the warm tears gushed, but she could not see -them, for she was blinded by her own. "Gustave Fink, I once held you in my -heart--I did, although I accepted Steven even then I held you in my heart. Not -guiltily, no, not guiltily, but as a sister might a brother whom she could love -and honor. I thought of you as a pure-minded, noble, generous man, and I looked -up to you as the best I had ever known. Now, in my heart you have destroyed that -image, and I regard you as a monster. Yes, you are there still, but as my enemy -and my son's enemy. You have poisoned my life--your revenge has reached as far -as that. From the day upon which conviction entered my mind that you were not -worthy of my esteem, I had nothing but the memory of my son. to comfort me. You -would rob me of him, but you shall not--you shall not, I say! God will prevent -you, and will smite you with a terrible but just punishment for your cruelty to -a poor and suffering woman!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Of what use to attempt to undeceive her? It would have been -but adding torture to torture. But was it not infamous that one's good -intentions should have been frustrated, and one's kindness turned to gall, by -the machinations of a knave? Still, I did say, out of simple justice to myself,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Believe it or not, as you will, Louisa Wolf, my only motive -in coming here was to endeavor to do you and your son a kindness."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I do not believe it," said the poor creature, vehemently -"your actions give your words the lie! Answer me this, if you can. Did you seek -me out to tell me that Gideon had done his duty by you, that he was a faithful, -willing, honest servant, and that you are satisfied with him, and grateful to -him for the great services he has rendered you? Did you come here to give me -pleasure or sorrow? You are silent--you dare not speak no, Gustave Fink, you -dare not! God once smote a liar dead, and you fear he would smite you the same. -Now, hear me. Before this year is out I will see my son, or die! Nothing shall -prevent me nothing but death! If he cannot come to me I will go to him, and give -him a mother's blessing--I will, as there is a Judge in heaven by whom you shall -one day be condemned!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Well, I left her; it was the best mercy I could show her.</p> - -<p class="normal">As I turned my back upon the miserable hovel I was conscious -that a spiritual sweetness had departed from my life, and that a human link of -love was snapped which could never again be made whole. Now that I had lost the -esteem of the woman whose laugh was the cheeriest, whose eyes the brightest, -whose face the sunniest in my remembrance, I felt how precious it had been to -me, and how, in its unrecognized influence, it had often helped to soften my -judgment and my temper when things were not going exactly right with me.</p> - -<p class="normal">Thus it happened that twice in my life had I received a -terrible wound at the hands of a good and virtuous woman whom I had honorably -loved.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was fortunate that at least two or three days were to -elapse between my interview with Louisa Wolf and my coming face to face again -with her treacherous son. Had I seen him immediately after the interview I might -have conducted myself in an unbecoming manner, and it would have been good -neither for him nor me. I had time on my homeward journey to reason with myself. -"Shall I make myself unhappy," I thought, "shall I fret myself to a shadow -because I have been maligned? Shall I allow such a rascal as Gideon Wolf to -entirely destroy my peace and repose? That would, indeed, be giving him an -advantage over me. Let me rather bear this stroke with equanimity, and be -thankful that there are still some honest men left in the world." But it was -poor comfort, and it needed all my philosophy to calm the turbulence of my -feelings. So startling were the revelations! To think that all the money I had -sent to his mother during the last ten years,to soften her lot, should have -found its way into Gideon Wolf's pocket! And for him never to have given me the -slightest cause for suspicion that this cunning game was being systematically -carried on! It was a bit of trickery worthy of his friend Pretzel. The pair of -knaves! It was well for him--yes, it was well for him that I did not meet him -when I left his mother's cottage. I should have been tempted to break every bone -in his body.</p> - -<p class="normal">The latter part of the journey was by no means so enjoyable as -the first. The familiar scenes and signs which had afforded me so much pleasure -on my outward journey presented themselves in quite a different aspect. They -appeared to have grown suddenly much older, to have become faded. What had -happened to them? Had they, also, met with a bitter disappointment that they -should so swiftly have lost the greater part of their beauty? The innkeeper's -wife was scolding her baby, who was crying and kicking like a little demon; the -woman herself was very plain-looking, and there was a sour expression on her -face; the orchards were dusty, the ducks seemed discontented, as though they had -eaten something which disagreed with them, the brooks and streams were not so -bright, the pigeons flew with heavy wings, the children were listless in their -movements, the hedges had lost their fragrance, the fir-trees on the heights -bent sadly towards me. Thus do we gain and convey impressions according to our -moods. A joyous heart can see the sun behind the clouds, and there is gladness -in the brightest day. Yes, yes--a cheerful and contented spirit is man's best -possession.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_11" href="#div1Ref_11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h4> - -<h5>RELATES HOW GIDEON WOLF LEFT MASTER FINK'S EMPLOYMENT.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">I arrived home a little before noon on Saturday, and took down -my shutters and examined my stock. Nothing was missing or disturbed; everything -was as I had left it, except that some of the brooches and chains had been -brightened. That was my old Anna's doings, though she said nothing about it till -I asked her. The delight evinced by this faithful servant at my return moved me -deeply. Her hands hovered about me with exceeding tenderness. She trotted up and -down stairs briskly, really as if she were a young girl, and before I had been -half an hour in the house she set before me a meal that did the heart good only -to look at it. The bright knives and forks and spoons, the snowy table-cloth and -napkins, the shining glasses, the sweetness and cleanliness all around--let me -tell you that there lies in these things a medicine for the soul: it is not only -the body that benefits by their influence. And when Anna removed the covers--ah, -then! The delicious aroma floated into my inner being as it were, attacked by -melancholy, vanquished it, and sent it to the rightabout. I was myself again. I -rubbed my hands, and Anna rubbed hers. She was as pleased as I was.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gideon Wolf came in before I had finished my meal. His -nostrils twitched; he sniffed the fragrance.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It smells good, Master Fink," he said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It eats better," I said.</p> - -<p class="normal">I did not ask him to join me after what I had heard it was not -possible for me to sit at the same table with him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did you enjoy your holiday?" he asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">I did not answer him I went on with my meal.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But it was not a real holiday, was it?" he continued. "You -went partly on business. Did you do a good stroke? You had fine weather. Which -road did you take?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You want to know too much," I said, and I rose from the table -and went into the shop. He followed me there.</p> - -<p class="normal">I had made up my mind as to the course I should pursue towards -him. I would get rid of him as quickly as possible. To have a treacherous -creature continually in my sight would have made my life unbearable. He should -go; he had done mischief enough I would have nothing more to do with him.</p> - -<p class="normal">He felt the coldness of my reception; I wished him to feel it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You do not seem glad to see me," he said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is no special reason for joy," I replied.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall not trouble myself, however," he said. "Here are the -watches you gave me to repair."</p> - -<p class="normal">I laid them aside and paid him. He counted the money -discontentedly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It will barely pay for my week's board and lodging," he said. -I made no remark. Then he opened fire in real earnest. "You do not forget the -conversation we had last Saturday, Master Fink?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Surely not," I replied; "it is fixed in my memory."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you still refuse the offer I made you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I still refuse it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Once is enough. I have nothing more to say on the subject. -Perhaps it will be for my good that you do not take me into partnership."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps it will."</p> - -<p class="normal">My laconic answers angered him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I should be a fool to waste the best years of my life in a -service so unprofitable."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very likely, very likely."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have lately frequently complained of my work."</p> - -<p class="normal">"With good cause. In spite of all my endeavors to teach you, I -never saw a watch-maker handle a watch more clumsily than you do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It proves that I was made for higher things."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Or lower."</p> - -<p class="normal">"At all events I am going to better myself."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am rejoiced to hear it. You give me notice to leave?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If it pleases you, Master Fink."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It pleases me well. When is the affliction to fall upon me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"As soon as convenient. Next week, or earlier, if it is -acceptable."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is quite acceptable. Go, Gideon, not next week, but this; -not on Monday, but to-day--now, this very hour. I will not delay your prosperity -by a single movement of a pendulum."</p> - -<p class="normal">He was disturbed, not expecting so cheerful an acquiescence. -Did the rascal think I should beg him to stay?</p> - -<p class="normal">"When I pay for the food I have had this week," he whined, "I -shall have nothing left."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do I owe you anything? I thought it was the other way--or -have I been dreaming all these years?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You do not strictly owe me anything but you surely do not -wish to thrust me on the world in a state of beggary!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is not I who thrust you on the world it is your own -deliberate act, my worthy Gideon, and your plans to better yourself are already -laid. However, your appeal shall not be made in vain. I will deal, not justly, -but generously, towards you." I opened my safe, and took therefrom a packet -containing coins. "I am going to make you a present of twenty-eight florins." -His eyes glistened, and he held out his eager hand. "All bad ones, Gideon, every -one of them! But I am not responsible for that, it is your affair. Among them -you will find, with a date scratched on them, two false florins you brought to -me this day four weeks as having been paid to you by Strauss the butcher, for -repairs done to his watch."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He gave them to me!" cried Gideon, turning very white. His -limbs trembled; he was in mortal fear, "With his own hands he gave them to me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you gave them to me. Go to Strauss, and inform him that -he deals in bad money, for you will find in this packet three other false -florins which you brought to me from him four months ago--you will see the date -on them--in payment for a pair of silver ear-rings he bought for his little -daughter. Go to Strauss, Gideon, go to him. He was never known to rob even the -rich, and if you succeed in convincing him that he gave you the five bad -florins, he will give you five good ones in exchange for them. He will do it, -Gideon, without a murmur, for naturally he will be desirous to keep such a -transaction very quiet. There is also another bad coin you brought to me from -Rosenblatt the clothes-mender. Perhaps he found it in an old coat he was -patching. There are seven others in a batch--mere bits of lead, Gideon--which -you brought to me from Philip Adler the rabbi, in payment of a long-standing -account. Philip Adler is a charitable man, and much loved. Go to him, and -acquaint him with this sad business; he will not see you wronged."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is a plot!" gasped Gideon. "You wish to ruin me; you wish -to take away my character."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let us not speak of plots," I said, and here my voice grew -stern. "Let us not speak of taking characters away. Every florin in this packet -I received direct from your hands, and I have kept a faithful record of them. -You will be glad to receive them back, for it is not a pleasant matter; it is, -indeed, as you are well aware, a most dangerous matter. We live in evil times, -Gideon, and one needs to be very, very careful in his dealings. Beware of rogues -and backbiters; avoid bad company; speak always the truth; do not malign your -benefactors; do not play cards with the devil; and do not betray the innocent. -Fare you well, Gideon Wolf."</p> - -<p class="normal">His tongue was afflicted with a kind of St. Vitus's dance as -he endeavored to explain that he was innocent of this dangerous passing of bad -money for good. I sat back in my chair, and did not assist him out of his tangle -of words, I listened in silence, and when his tongue had run itself down, like -an ill-regulated watch, I bade him farewell once more, and shut my door upon -him.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a happy release. Old Anna was overjoyed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now I can sleep in peace," she said.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_12" href="#div1Ref_12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h4> - -<h5>MASTER FINK ENDEAVORS TO RESCUE KATRINE LOEBEG<br> -FROM THE EVIL INFLUENCE OF PRETZEL THE MISER.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">I did not entirely lose sight of Gideon. It is not easy in a -town like this for a man to hide himself and his doings from the knowledge of -his neighbors, and it was very soon known to everybody that Gideon Wolf and I -had parted company. The question now was what he would do, how he intended to -live. I devoutly hoped that he would leave the town and seek his fortune -elsewhere, but my hope was not fulfilled. Old Anna, womanlike, was more curious -about him than I, and she made it her business to find out all she could -concerning his movements. Thus for some time all the information I received with -reference to him came through her. On one day it was,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gideon Wolf called this morning upon Peterson the tanner, to -collect some money he owes Miser Pretzel."</p> - -<p class="normal">On another day,</p> - -<p class="normal">"They were walking together this afternoon, Pretzel and -Gideon."</p> - -<p class="normal">And at length,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gideon Wolf has gone to live in the Temple, in the garret of -the house immediately opposite Miser Pretzel's."</p> - -<p class="normal">There have been great changes in the town these last few -years. The Temple has been pulled down to make room for the new railway-station -which is to bring confusion into our quiet lives. That demon, Steam, will no -longer permit us to live in peace and quietness. The young may rejoice in these -changes; to the old they are an affliction.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was certainly time the Temple was destroyed, for it was a -disgrace. Long, long since, hundreds of years ago, it had been used as a refuge -for monks and priests, and it was then that it got to be called the Temple. The -houses, I have no doubt, were grand places in those days, but now they were so -old and rickety that timid people had a fear of them. As for honest and virtuous -folk, on no account would they reside there. It bore a dreadful reputation, and -was given up entirely to vile and desperate characters, jailbirds, loose women, -desperadoes, and adventurers. Nevertheless, there it was that Gideon Wolf took -up his quarters, at the top of a house four stories high, the roof of which -nearly touched the clouds. To save it from tumbling down, a heavy beam had been -fixed high in the air, in between it and the rotten old house on the opposite -side, in which Pretzel lived. These decrepit, worn-out tenements leaned towards -each other from sheer weakness, and could not stand without support, like human -beings who in their old age require a prop to save them from falling to the -earth. The crossbeam between the two houses was fixed, on the left, just below -the top window of Miser Pretzel's house, and, on the right, immediately below -the window of the garret in which Gideon Wolf slept. The lower portion of this -house was occupied by people of bad character, the second and third floors were -empty, and only Gideon lived in the garret. In Miser Pretzel's house no one -resided but himself; it was his own property, and he would not admit a tenant. -Dwelling for years among lawless people, and keeping always, as was currently -reported, a large sum of money in his rooms, it was wonderful that he was not -robbed. But he seemed to be protected by a charm, for no ill befell him, and he -was able to carry on his usurious practices without check or hindrance. It was -understood that Pretzel had taken Gideon into his employ, for the young man was -now regularly engaged in collecting debts owing to the miser by poor people who -had been drawn into his web.</p> - -<p class="normal">But if appearances went for anything, Gideon Wolf did not -thrive in his new vocation. Miser Pretzel, who loved his money with a closer -love than men have for their children, was not likely to pay liberal wages to -those who worked for him, and Gideon grew shabbier and poorer week by week. I -had opportunities of observing this, for he sometimes passed my shop; but -between us not a word was exchanged.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Miser Pretzel will get Gideon well into his clutches," said -Anna, "and then the devil will fly away with the pair of them."</p> - -<p class="normal">The autumn waned, and winter came on. A bitter, cheerless -winter, always remembered because of its heavy snowfalls, the like of which had -never been seen in the town. In the first week of November Anna burst in upon me -with the words,</p> - -<p class="normal">"What do you think? Katrine Loebeg has left her situation, and -has gone to attend upon Miser Pretzel."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is bad news indeed," I said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The child!" cried Anna, in deep distress. "The foolish, -foolish child! She will come quickly now to shame and ruin! Will no one stretch -out a helping hand to her--will no one save her?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"How can it be done?" I asked. "Heaven knows I would sacrifice -much to save the poor girl, but you remember how she received us when we spoke -to her before. She is her own mistress, and can do as she pleases; no person has -any legal authority over her. Were I her grandfather, or her uncle, or even a -distant relative of her dead mother, I might have some right to -interfere--although it would be useless, Anna, quite useless; of that I am -certain. She does not see Gideon Wolf with our eyes, and it is he, no doubt, who -has been instrumental in getting her into Miser Pretzel's house."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink," said Anna, "you have a solemn duty before you, -and you must not shrink from it. You must save that sweet child from life-long -grief. It is in your power. All the town will bless you for the deed."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't want all the town to bless me," I said, somewhat -testily I must own. "I am content to do what is right for right's sake, and for -the sake of my conscience. In Heaven's Dame enlighten me how it is in my power -to save Katrine!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Old Anna spoke now very earnestly. " There is no one in the -world who is so thoroughly acquainted as yourself with the vile nature of that -scorpion, Gideon Wolf. To stand tamely by, and allow him to drag the innocent -soul of Katrine down to perdition would be a heavy sin. Oh, Master Fink, I think -there is a way. You have no wife, you have no child--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah," I exclaimed, "I see! you wish me to adopt Katrine as my -child. Thank you, Anna, thank you; you have a kind heart. It is a noble idea. I -will do it--yes, Anna, I will do it, if Katrine will consent. I will be a father -unto her, and as God is my judge I will deal tenderly and lovingly by her. It -will be a beautiful thing to have a fresh young being like her in the house. And -in course of time she shall forget that rascal, Gideon Wolf, and set her heart -upon some fine honest young fellow who will make her happy." I glowed with -pleasurable excitement; I could not keep my seat; I walked up and down the room, -rubbing my hands.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Master Fink," said Anna, wiping her tears away with the back -of her hand, "I bless the day I first took service with you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Never mind that, never mind that," I cried; "it is a waste of -time to talk of such things. We must see her at once--we must not lose a moment. -She is in danger, in positive danger." And then, all in a moment, my spirits -fell. "Are you sure, Anna, that she lives with Miser Pretzel?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, there is no doubt of it, and we must go to his house, -and speak to her there."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Speak to her in Pretzel's house! Do you forget the enmity he -bears to me? He will not admit us; he will laugh at us, and shut the door in our -faces. He has been waiting for years to spite me; old as he is he would walk a -hundred miles to do me an injury."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We go to see Katrine, not to see him, Master Fink. There is -nothing to be afraid of; he will not eat us, and if he won't admit us into the -house we will call Katrine out, and speak to her in the streets. Because it is -unpleasant to do, you must not shrink from it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will not," I said, firmly. "Come, Anna, you shall accompany -me. What is right to be done should be done without delay."</p> - -<p class="normal">In less than three minutes I had locked up my shop, and Anna -and I were on our way to the Temple and in due time we paused before the door of -Pretzel's house.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was years since I had visited the Temple, and I was struck -by the ruined appearance of the habitations. Dirt and filth, rotting timbers, -broken windows stuffed with rags to keep out wind and rain, crumbling stones, -and signs of dilapidation, met my eye whichever way I turned. One house had -shrunk in the middle, just as if it had a pain in its stomach, and there was not -a dwelling that did not bear some strange resemblance to a drunkard in the last -days of his evil life. The signs of animation were quite as deplorable. The cats -were skinny, vicious, fiery-eyed; fowls I should have fled from in horror had -their emaciated bodies been placed on my table were pecking in the gutters; and -a dog, a very skeleton of a dog, whose ribs were almost breaking through its -skin, barked and snapped at my heels as I knocked at Miser Pretzel's door. -Katrine herself opened it. She turned pale when she saw us, and made a motion as -though she would shut the door in our faces; but I held it back, and said, in a -gentle tone,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Katrine, we have come in perfect friendship, Anna and I. We -wish to speak to you in love and honest friendship--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who is there--who is there?" cried Miser Pretzel, from the -lower part of the house. "What is keeping you so long, Katrine?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is Master Fink and Anna," replied Katrine.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was up in an instant, and glided before Katrine and faced -us.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What an honor--what an honor!" he exclaimed, surveying us -with his sly eyes. "Now, whoever would have thought that honest Master Fink, -upright Master Fink, who wastes young men's lives, and ruins them, and treats -them like dirt under his feet--whoever would have thought that <i>he</i> would -make a friendly visit to poor old Pretzel! And handsome Anna, too, with her -beautiful white teeth close shut over her malicious old tongue--she has come to -see the poor old man! Katrine, my child," and Pretzel drew the girl, who was now -looking at us in anger, close to him, "how shall we receive these worthy people -who take away a young girl's character, and lay cunning plots to ensnare a -faithful, generous-hearted, hard-working young man whom they have robbed of his -rights? How shall we receive them, eh?" And he patted the young girl's hand, -which he had placed on his arm, and smiled at us malevolently.</p> - -<p class="normal">I sighed. The power the old villain exercised over the -innocent girl was apparent; every word he spoke struck home, and increased the -dislike with which she regarded us. I was afraid that the mischief had gone too -far for me to repair it but I would not leave without making the attempt. I had -some difficulty in preventing Anna from reviling Pretzel; she had not my -prudence or self-control.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have not come to see you, Pretzel; my visit is to Katrine."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, ah," he rejoined, "you have not come to see me; but who -is to believe a liar? I had a notion that you wished to borrow another three -thousand florins of me for two years without interest. That is what I did for -this old fellow once, Katrine--ask him to deny it. He cannot, you see. He was on -the point of ruin, and because I did this good deed out of pure compassion, -because I lent him three thousand florins without interest, and so saved him -from beggary and the gutter, he has gone on ever since speaking ill of me, and -maligning me behind my back, as he has maligned his confiding, unfortunate -apprentice. It is how he serves everybody. First he pretends to be kind to them, -and when he has got them in his power he bites them and blackens their -reputations. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing. His appearance is quite -benevolent, is it not, Katrine, my child? But never trust a man with such a face -as that never, never, or you will rue the day. Now I would lay a wager that he -has some evil intention in his mind as he stands there looking at you with -pretended sadness. Ask him what it is he wants to say to you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What do you want of me?" asked Katrine, in a tone of deep -resentment.</p> - -<p class="normal">By a great effort I controlled myself. "Katrine Loebeg," I -said, "this is no place for you. None but bad people live in this -neighborhood--"</p> - -<p class="normal">Pretzel interrupted me. "What did I tell you, Katrine? And -here stand I, Pretzel, Gideon Wolf's best friend, the friend who is going one -day to make him rich and in the opposite house lives Gideon himself. Oh, what -bad people live here--what bad, bad people!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have come with a fatherly intention, Katrine," I said, "and -old Anna is with me--old Anna, who loves you, and wishes you nothing but good."</p> - -<p class="normal">"First a kiss, and then a scratch," sneered Pretzel. "Think of -old Anna loving you so dearly--she who said to you what she did about Gideon, -who would not sleep in the same house with him, and who would not cook a meal -for him for all the money that could be offered her! Dear me, dear me--what a -benevolent, kind-hearted, backbiting old woman!"</p> - -<p class="normal">I continued I would not be driven from my purpose by his -sneers.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I ask you to come and live with me as my daughter, Katrine. I -will protect you as a father; I will provide for you as a father. Inquire of any -person in the town about my character--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," said Pretzel, "ask Gideon Wolf for Master Fink's -character. Ask Gideon, ask Gideon."</p> - -<p class="normal">"--And you will learn that I have never wronged a human -being--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then Gideon Wolf is not human," said Pretzel, and I am an -image of stone. You shall prove for yourself, Katrine, what kind of a man this -is who stands before us. He shall himself show you his benevolent heart. Ask him -but one question--whether, if you accept his offer, he will open his doors to -Gideon Wolf, so that you may all live together in love and good-will?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Will you do this?" asked Katrine.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," I answered, "it is impossible."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What do you say to that, Katrine?" cried Pretzel. "Does not -that show you something of his real meaning? He has abominable ideas in his head -about you. He wants you as his daughter--oh yes, as his daughter! That is his -pretence. It is infamous, infamous! If Gideon were here he would throw this old -sinner from my door-step into the road. Katrine my child, I think I hear a -window slamming down-stairs. Run and shut it, and see that all the doors are -secure. We must protect ourselves against this wrong-doer."</p> - -<p class="normal">Katrine obeyed, and the moment she was out of sight Pretzel -came close to me and Anna.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How many years is it, Master Fink," he hissed, "since I told -you I would be even with you? Pretzel never forgets--never forgets and never -forgives--never forgives! You will find that I shall be more than even with you. -I will strike you through this simple girl. I will ruin her, yes, I will blight -her life, because I know it will cause you sorrow. That will be interest for the -money you borrowed of me--good interest, good interest! I have Katrine and her -lover in my power, and nothing that you can do shall save them. The deeper the -misery into which she is plunged the deeper will be your suffering. I shall -remember that, I shall remember that, and Gideon Wolf and I, between us, shall -strike her with wretchedness. What do you say to that, you old hag?" And he -poked his face, upon which there was really a diabolical expression, so close to -Anna's that she jumped back, as if the evil one himself were attempting to seize -her. Katrine now re-appeared, and Pretzel put his arm round her waist to protect -her, and continued, "This scoundrel has been unbosoming himself to me while you -were away, and has been gloating over his wicked intentions. You have heard his -offer, and if you allow him to go on he will tell you, being the prince of -liars, that if you do not accept it you will be ruined and brought to sorrow. He -is not at all particular in what he says. Perhaps you wish to hear him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I do not," said the poor girl, firmly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Remember, then, how he has treated Gideon Wolf, and give him -his answer, Katrine."</p> - -<p class="normal">She looked me full in the face. "You are a slanderer," she -said; "you have an abominable heart. You cheat your workmen; you set snares for -the innocent; and you would separate me and Gideon, whom I love with all my -soul. Go; I will have nothing to say to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Heaven pity you!" I sighed; and Anna and I walked slowly -away, and did not speak a single word till we reached home. Then Anna said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not take it too much to heart, Master Fink. You have done -your duty."</p> - -<p class="normal">But we were both very sad for many days.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_13" href="#div1Ref_13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h4> - -<h5>GIDEON WOLF AND HIS MOTHER BEGIN THE NEW YEAR<br> -TOGETHER.</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Before we knew where we were, the last day of the old year was -upon us. Time is a thief he is forever stealing upon us, and robbing us of sunny -moments. He ripens to destroy. Joy vanishes, but sorrow remains. Never, never, -though I live to a hundred, shall I forget that last clay of the old year.</p> - -<p class="normal">For four days the snow had fallen without cessation--heavy, -thick, blinding snow. There was no telling when it would leave off. The streets -were a foot deep, and people coming in from the surrounding country related -dismal stories of the state of the land. Depend upon it that those who had no -occasion to leave their houses were glad enough to shut out the snow and the -wind, and sit by their firesides, drinking hot spiced wine. It had been a custom -with me at different times of the year, especially on New-year's night, for -every person in my house to assemble a little before midnight, for the purpose -of drinking more than one steaming glass of wine of Anna's making. That was not -the only good cheer in which we indulged and it happened sometimes that friends -were with us to help us eat the splendid dishes which Anna cooked for us. This -year Anna and I were alone. The day had not been particularly joyous, but -although no guests sat at my table I did not allow the old year to go out -unrecognized. Exactly as the clock struck eleven my faithful old house-keeper -made her appearance, carrying a jug of hot wine, the fragrant steam of which was -really delightful.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thought I would come a little earlier than usual," said -Anna, "in case you might be lonely."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You did right, Anna," I said.</p> - -<p class="normal">I filled her glass and mine, and then we shook hands, and -drank the toast, "May we all be alive at the birth of another year, in -contentment and health!" Then Anna, upon my invitation, sat on the opposite side -of the fire, and we disposed ourselves for a chat.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is the quietest New Year we have ever spent," I said. -"Just before you came in, Anna, I was feeling very melancholy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It does no harm, a little melancholy," said Anna, "though -this is a week in which happiness should reign. For my part, always at this time -I keep thinking of the poor and pitying them, and wishing I could do a great -deal for them."</p> - -<p class="normal">It is only just to the memory of my old Anna to say that she -was one of the kindest souls in existence. She was forever giving away--so much -so that it was impossible for her to save money--and she never spoke of her -charities. It was seldom that she could not see to the bottom of her purse.</p> - -<p class="normal">We spoke of many things--of the storm raging without, of -Katrine Loebeg, of Gideon Wolf, of Miser Pretzel--and wondered how they were -spending the evening. Then Anna related to me a pitiful story of one New-year's -night, long ago in the past, when she was a child living with her mother, who was -very poor. How that they had no home, and were walking through the cold snow in -grief and darkness, when they saw lights in the windows of a farm-house. How -they crept to the windows, and how, although fierce dogs were chained up they -did not even bark at Anna and her mother. How they peeped through the windows, -and saw all the family so happy that Anna began to sob. How her sobs reached the -ears of those within, and how the master came out, and after a few questions -took them into his house, where they were fed and warmed and made happy. She had -nearly come to the end of her story, which she related with wonderful animation, -when I held up my hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thought I heard a sound at the street door," I said.</p> - -<p class="normal">We listened in silence, but heard nothing, and I told Anna to -proceed. Her story was just finished as I held up my hand again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I must be haunted," I said; "when I don't listen, I hear -sounds like moans; when I listen, I hear nothing. I cannot rest till I satisfy -myself."</p> - -<p class="normal">I went to the street door and opened it, and the snow and the -howling wind beat in upon me and almost blinded me. I called out loudly many -times, and receiving no answer, nor seeing anything, was about to close the -door, when Anna, who had followed me, gave a great scream, and darting past me -fell upon her knees. I looked down, and beheld her busy about the form of a -woman lying in the snow. I stooped to assist her; and we carried the insensible -woman into my room, and laid her before the fire.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor thing, poor thing!" said Anna, rubbing the woman's hands -and limbs. "Ah, what a state she is in! God help us, I fear she is frozen to -death."</p> - -<p class="normal">As she spoke these words I recognized the woman.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is Louisa Wolf," I said, pityingly, "Gideon Wolf's mother, -for whom you made some soup on the day she came to ask me to take her son as my -apprentice. No wonder that you do not recognize her; she is sadly, sadly -altered. She has come--I divine it to spend the New Year with her son, whom she -has not seen since he was a lad. For Heaven's sake, let us do all we can to -revive her!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Anna hurried away to light the fire and get the bed ready in -the room Gideon used to occupy. Before she returned, the warmth and the hot wine -I succeeded in making the poor creature drink--and I have no doubt the mother's -love which had sustained her in her weary journey--restored Louisa Wolf to -consciousness. She opened her eyes and they fell upon me. Ah, what a state of -poverty she was in! Her clothes were in rags, her boots were worn off her feet, -her face was pinched with cold and hunger and suffering. My heart bled for her. -Recognizing me, she pushed me feebly from her with exclamations of horror, and -struggled to her feet.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My son!" she cried, in a terrible voice; so hoarse was it, so -charged with overwrought agony, that it was scarcely human. "My son!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Rest yourself first," I said, compassionately; it was evident -she did not know that Gideon had left my employment; "rest yourself, and take -some food. Then we will talk."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I want no rest," she cried, "nor will I eat in your house! It -would choke me. Give me back my son you shall no longer keep him from me! I have -walked fifty miles through the snow to see him, hoping to be here two days ago; -but the cruel snow kept me back. Oh, my God, what I have suffered! My son--my -son--give me my son! Do you hear me? Give me my son! Gideon, Gideon!" she -screamed. "Your old mother is here! Come to me, for God's sake come to me!" Her -screams brought Anna into the room. "Ah," cried Louisa Wolf, running to Anna, -and putting her hands convulsively upon her; "you are a woman; you have a human -heart beating in your breast--not like that monster there--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stop!" exclaimed Anna; "you are crazy--you don't know what -you are saying. Master Fink is a good and just man, and any one who says -otherwise cannot be in her right senses."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Anna," I said, sadly, "do not waste time in defending me. We -stand in the presence of a sorrow so overwhelming that all other considerations -are as nought in my eyes. I forgive Louisa Wolf for any words she may speak -against me. The great Lord of all, who rules the storm and the tempest -without--not fiercer is it, Anna, than the storm which racks and tears this poor -woman's soul--has seen my actions, and will judge me." Anna came to my side and -kissed my hand; it was a simple action, but it comforted me. "Louisa Wolf," I -said, "your son is not here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where, then, can he be?" she moaned, and she looked about the -room really as though she were bereft of reason. "Merciful God! Do not tell me -he is dead!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He lives," I said, " but I know nothing more of him than -that. He left my house four months ago, and from that day we have spoken no word -to each other."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Four months ago!" she muttered. "That must be about the time -you came to our old village. Why did he not tell me--why did not you? You are -speaking the truth, Gustave Fink? Swear it, by your mother's spirit!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am speaking the truth, Louisa Wolf," I said; "I swear to it -by the memory of my mother!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then I have no business here," she said, bewildered and -dazed. "I came to this house to find him to press him in my arms--to embrace -him, and receive his kisses! Oh, my dear one, my baby boy, where art thou? Tell -me, you two--my enemies--tell me where I shall find my son."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He lives in the Temple," I said, "a mile from this spot. That -is all I know, and all I can tell you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In the Temple," she murmured, "a mile from this spot. God -give me strength to get there! The Temple! A sacred place. I hear the holy -music! My dear one, my dear one!" She raised her hands, mid there was a look of -ecstasy on her face. Suddenly she recovered herself, and shuddering at the sight -of me, said, "May I never again be afflicted with the sight of your face, -Gustave Fink! The Temple--the Temple!" And she staggered to the door.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You will never dream of going there to-night!" I cried; and -Anna stood in her way.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," she said, "I will not dream of going--I will go. No -mortal power shall stop me. The Temple! Do you not hear the music? Ah, how -sweet--how sweet!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Think a moment," I said, hurriedly; "listen to the storm. It -increases in fierceness. There is not a soul in the streets."</p> - -<p class="normal">"God is there," she answered, "and all his holy angels. You -cannot prevent me from going--they will not permit you. I am coming, Gideon, I -am coming, my dear one! Thou and I will spend the New Year together. The storm -is singing, to guide me to thee!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Give me my cloak, Anna," I said; "I will go with Louisa Wolf; -otherwise she will perish in the snow."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will accompany you, Master Fink," said Anna; "I will not -leave you to-night."</p> - -<p class="normal">In a moment my cloak was on my shoulders, and my fur cap on my -head. Anna, also, was as quickly equipped. She would have wrapped a thick shawl -round Louisa Wolf, but the kindly service was rejected, and the shawl fell to -the ground. I picked it up and carried it on my arm.</p> - -<p class="normal">We went out into the storm. So thick was the falling snow that -I could scarcely see a yard before me. It swirled into our faces, and the sharp -wind cut us bitterly. But Louisa Wolf did not feel it. A look of rapture was in -her eyes, and on her lips an ecstatic smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dear angels, lead me!" she whispered, as she stepped from my -house.</p> - -<p class="normal">Not a light was to be seen, not a human being but ourselves -was abroad; our feet sank into the snow more than ankle deep, and we heard no -sound but the raging wind. Moving as we did, noiselessly along, the moaning and -the sobbing of the storm seemed, as it were, to be dissociated from us, and even -amid these tempestuous evidences we were engulfed in an awful white silence. We -were like three spirits moving through dead streets.</p> - -<p class="normal">The difficulties in our way were so great that we made but -slow progress. Louisa Wolf refused all offers of assistance; she would not touch -our hands. Surely some superhuman power must have sustained her through the -terrible fatigue she had endured. We were more than an hour reaching the Temple, -and if Anna spoke to me, or I to her, it was in a whisper. Only once did we -stop--when the distant church bells proclaimed the birth of a New Year.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sweet and solemn they pealed upon the air, conveying their -pregnant message which all do not take to heart--the message of the cradle and -the grave.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A Happy New Year to you, master," said Anna.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And to you, Anna," I replied.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The bells of the New Year!" murmured Louisa, Wolf. "God bless -my beloved son, and make his life honored and happy!"</p> - -<p class="normal">At length we were within a hundred yards of Miser Pretzel's -residence, and then a singular impression stole upon me. There appeared to be an -unusual movement in the air, a tremulous pulsing, as it were. I cannot more -clearly define it; the impression was more spiritual than real. But it was -prophetic of what followed.</p> - -<p class="normal">We entered the narrow streets of the Temple; we traversed the -tortuous thoroughfare in which Gideon Wolf resided; we stopped before the house, -immediately opposite the house of Miser Pretzel.</p> - -<p class="normal">High up in the air, the beam which kept these houses from -falling upon each other in deadly embrace was indicated by a thick band of snow, -stretching from garret window to garret window.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your son lives here," I said to Louisa Wolf.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Here!" she sighed. "Yes, yes, I see the lights, I hear the -angels' music. Hush! my dear one's voice is among them. Gideon, Gideon my -darling, I am waiting for thee!"</p> - -<p class="normal">She slid from my supporting arms, which she had not now the -power to thrust from her--indeed she was not conscious that they were around -her--and sank upon the white steps of the door which, open, would have led her -to her son's chamber. Her back was towards this door, her face towards the house -occupied by Pretzel.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Her strength is spent," I said to Anna.</p> - -<p class="normal">As I uttered these words the upper window of Pretzel's house, -immediately above the snow-clad beam, was thrust violently open, and a man -issued therefrom, and sliding cautiously upon the wooden support, embraced it -with his arms and legs. At the same moment a glare of light made itself visible -in the room from which he emerged. I grasped Anna's arm, and her eyes followed -the direction of mine. Entranced, we watched the man winding his way, inch by -inch, along the beam, to the opposite window, which gave light to the room in -which Gideon Wolf slept. So perilous was this enterprise that we held our -breaths in very fear; we stood like stone, transfixed.</p> - -<p class="normal">The glare in the room the man had left grew stronger and -stronger, and like a great dark snake the man, whose body was stretched -lengthways upon the beam, slid slowly onward till he reached Gideon Wolf's -window. Then, with one hand cautiously raised, he strove to open this window; -but he strove in vain. The window was fast, and no effort of his could move it. -He could use but one hand; the beam was slippery with snow and ice-flakes, bits -of which, dislodged by his movements, fell at our feet. His other arm and hand -embraced the beam, to save himself from falling to certain death. One glance did -I give at Louisa Wolf. A transport of rapture was on her face; she made a -movement as though she were pressing a baby to her breast.</p> - -<p class="normal">"See," whispered Anna, pointing upward, and she clung to me, -trembling in every limb, "he is turning back."</p> - -<p class="normal">Yes, foiled in his endeavors to open the window, the man, by a -wonderful exercise of strength, twisted himself round, and was now sliding -towards the room he had left. His progress was slower and more laborious; his -exertions had well-nigh exhausted him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He will be killed--he will be killed!" gasped Anna. "He will -fall, and die here at our feet! Help--help!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do not cry out," I said, and with my hand on her mouth I -prevented her screams from being heard.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We cannot help him before he reaches Pretzel's window. If you -rouse Louisa Wolf to consciousness she will go mad. Do you not see who it is up -there?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No," she replied, "my eyes are too weak."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Anna, it is Gideon Wolf himself."</p> - -<p class="normal">Yes, it was he and no other, and as I gazed at his snake-like -figure I marvelled to myself what kind of devil's work he had been engaged in. -It was something villainous and unholy of that I was inwardly convinced.</p> - -<p class="normal">By this time he had reached the open window of Miser Pretzel's -house; but as he placed his hand upon the sill, and raised his head almost to -the level of his hand, a tremendous volume of flame burst upon him and compelled -him to shrink swiftly down upon the snow-clad beam.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My God!" I cried, "the man is lost! The house is on fire! -Anna, look after Louisa Wolf. Katrine Katrine! Pretzel--Pretzel! Come quickly, -or you will be burned to death!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And I beat with my fists upon Pretzel's door, and kicked at -the panels with all my strength.</p> - -<p class="normal">In less time than I take to tell it, the entire upper portion -of Miser Pretzel's house was one mass of flame; cries and shouts rent the air; -doors were flung open; half-naked people rushed out of their houses screaming -women and children ran this way and that. But Miser Pretzel's house remained -fast closed, and Louisa Wolf lay motionless in the snow, with her head in old -Anna's lap. Strong men hacked at Pretzel's door with knives and axes, while -Gideon Wolf, clinging to the snow-clad beam, cast frantic glances around--above, -below, on every side--and screamed to us to save him. We could not hear his -words, the uproar was so great, but we saw by his gestures that he was making -agonized appeals to us. Ah, ah! They had broken in Pretzel's door, and reckless -men rushed into the house to save the miser and Katrine Loebeg.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Keep back, Master Fink," they cried, " we can do the work -better than you." It was easy for me to obey them, for I was fascinated by -Gideon Wolf's deadly peril. His struggles to retain his hold grew fainter and -fainter. In his agony and terror and weakness his body slipped from the beam, -and he hung in mid-air, sixty feet above us, supported only by one arm. In this -violent movement his clothes became disarranged, and from his loosened pockets -fell a great number of gold pieces. Yes, into the snow, like dead birds -overweighted by sin, descended the bright golden shower, and the people threw -themselves upon the ground, and tore frantically into the thick white carpet to -gather it. Simultaneously with this new feature of the awful scene, men issued -from Pretzel's house, bearing two bodies, the miser's and Katrine's. They -brought them close to me, exclaiming,</p> - -<p class="normal">"There has been murder done!"</p> - -<p class="normal">They pointed to wounds in the breast of Miser Pretzel, from -which the blood was still flowing, proving that the dark deed had been but -recently committed. But Katrine was safe in my arms--I felt her warm breath upon -my face--her bosom heaved--her eyes opened. She gave one upward glance, and -beheld the suspended form of Gideon Wolf gradually but surely slipping from life -to death.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Murderer!" she screamed.</p> - -<p class="normal">Ah, my God! Never shall I forget that scream. It was the knell -of love and hope and faith and happiness. It rings in my ears now. It reached -Gideon Wolf's in the last moments of his life, and he knew that his crime was -discovered. With a wild shriek his arm slid from the beam, and he fell through -the air upon the stones, forcing a shower of bloodstained snow into the faces of -those who stood near his crushed and mangled form.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Look, Master Fink, look!" said Anna, pulling at my cloak.</p> - -<p class="normal">I knelt by the side of my old sweetheart, Louisa Wagner. I -pillowed her head upon my breast.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Listen," she murmured, "the angels are still singing. How -sweet--how beautiful! The door of the Temple is open. The lights are there, and -I see my boy--my angel baby-boy. Gideon, my dear one, I have come to spend the -New Year with thee! Ah, he is in my arms I am happy, I am happy! All my pain has -gone. How dim the lights are growing in the Temple! That is because you are not -there, my dear one. We will never part again, darling! Closer--closer--closer!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And with her lips upon my lips she died.</p> - -<br> -<p class="center" style="letter-spacing:25px">* * * * * *</p> -<br> - -<p class="normal">You guess, do you not, that Katrine Loebeg, the young woman -with the silver hair, is my house-keeper now?</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4>THE END.</h4> -<br> -<br> -<br> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Self-Doomed, by B. L. 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Farjeon - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Self-Doomed - A Novel - -Author: B. L. Farjeon - -Release Date: September 19, 2016 [EBook #53096] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELF-DOOMED *** - - - - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by the -Web Archive (The Library of Congress) - - - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - 1. Page Scan Source: - https://archive.org/details/selfdoomednovel00farj - (The Library of Congress) - - - - - - -_No. 27_ _25 Cts._ - - -HARPER'S HANDY SERIES - -Issued Weekly - - -Copyright, 1855, Subscription Price by HARPER & BROTHERS OCTOBER 9, -1885 per Year, 52 Numbers, $15 - -========================================================================= -Entered at the Post-Office at New York, as Second-class Mail Matter - - - - - - -SELF-DOOMED - - - -A Novel - - -BY B. L. FARJEON AUTHOR OF "BLADE-O'-GRASS" "LONDON'S HEART" "LOVE'S -HARVEST" "GREAT PORTER SQUARE" ETC., ETC. - - -========================================================================= -_Books you may hold readily in your hand are the most useful, after -all_ Dr. JOHNSON - - - - -NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS 1885 - - - - - -CONTENTS - - I. MASTER FINK RELATES CERTAIN INTERESTING PARTICULARS CONCERNING - HIS APPRENTICE, GIDEON WOLF. - II. A LOVE-CHAPTER IN THE LIFE OF MASTER FINK. - III. MASTER FINK HAS A SINGULAR DREAM. - IV. MASTER FINK HAS A SINGULAR DREAM. - V. RELATES HOW GIDEON WOLF WAS SEEN BY OLD ANNA PLAYING CARDS - WITH THE DEVIL. - VI. PRETZEL THE MISER, WITH THE EVIL EYE. - VII. GIDEON WOLF PROPOSES TO ADOPT MASTER FINK AS HIS FATHER. - VIII. MASTER FINK RESOLVES TO UNDERTAKE A JOURNEY. - IX. RELATES WHAT KIND OF HARVEST MASTER FINK GATHERED IN THE COURSE - OF HIS JOURNEY. - X. MASTER FINK HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH THE WOMAN HE LOVED. - XI. RELATES HOW GIDEON WOLF LEFT MASTER FINK'S EMPLOYMENT. - XII. MASTER FINK ENDEAVORS TO RESCUE KATRINE LOEBEG FROM THE EVIL - INFLUENCE OF PRETZEL THE MISER. - XIII. GIDEON WOLF AND HIS MOTHER BEGIN THE NEW YEAR TOGETHER. - - - - -SELF-DOOMED. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -MASTER FINK RELATES CERTAIN INTERESTING PARTICULARS CONCERNING HIS -APPRENTICE, GIDEON WOLF. - - -I am truly glad to see you; this meeting has warmed my heart. It is -one of life's pleasantest experiences to shake the hand of an old -friend, and to learn from his own lips that he has not forgotten you -in his wanderings. I am sorely grieved to hear that you have lost -your faithful mate, the dear woman who was your companion for so many -years. Be comforted; we shall meet them again, these beloved ones. -Resignation, friend, resignation. There are griefs which all mortals -have to bear. Happy the man in whose heart shines the bright star of -Hope, and who derives consolation from it. It is a solace born of Faith -the comforter, and it is beyond price. - -You are anxious to know what has become of my people? Name them, -friend. Gideon Wolf, my apprentice? And pretty Katrine Loebeg, too--you -are curious about her? Strange that you should bring their names into -association, for when you last visited me, twelve years ago, there was -nothing between those two; I may say that with confidence. Indeed, -it is scarcely possible there could have been, for Katrine was but -thirteen. A beautiful maiden, truly, but her heart was not then ripe -enough for love; she was a mere child. Twelve years ago! Ah me, ah -me! How time flies! The three best seasons have passed over my head, -and I am in the winter of my life. But I feel young sometimes even -now--yes, indeed, I am good for many a year, I hope. I am fond of life, -and I have much to be grateful for, though I stand alone in the world, -without wife or child. - -Gideon Wolf and Katrine Loebeg! Gracious heavens, the contrast! Truly a -wolf and a lamb; a hawk and a dove; a poisonous weed and a pure white -lily. But you were as much a stranger to those two when you were here -last as you are at the present moment. Old Anna was my house-keeper -then. You remember Anna; you had good jokes with her, and she liked -you; she said you were a proper man. Where is she now, you ask? In her -grave. She served me faithfully, and lived till she was nearly eighty. -Ah, she was a treasure--you don't often meet with such. Everything went -on in the house from hour to hour, from day to day, from week to week, -like a well regulated clock. And what beautiful stews she made! Never, -never shall I taste the like again. I have another house-keeper now. -Hush! She is here. - - -* * * * * * - - -She has gone, and will not trouble us again to-night. You are -thoughtful--you observed something strange in her. Her dead-white face, -her long silvery hair, her great fixed eyes have impressed you. Why, -yes--she never seems to see anything that is before her, but to be -forever gazing into a world invisible to all other human beings. What -she beholds there, Heaven only knows, though I sometimes fancy I can -see with my mind's eye the terrible scene which shall abide with her -to the last hour of her life, and the figures who played their parts -therein. On rare occasions I have heard her addressing them, but in a -tone so low that her words have not reached my ears. To me she never -speaks except upon the duties of the house, or in reply to a question I -ask her. You will scarcely believe that she was beautiful once--very, -very beautiful--and that she might have picked and chosen. No, she was -never married. What a pitiful look in her eyes? Yes, yes; it is enough -to move one to sadness. What is it you desire to know? Is she in her -right mind? No, she is mad! - -Yes, she is mad, but she is perfectly harmless, and goes about her -duties well enough in her dull, monotonous way, and is a good cook, -too, but not so good as Anna. That is not to be wondered at. There -never was another cook like Anna. My mouth waters when I think of -her. This one is not old. You will scarcely credit it--she is not -yet six-and-twenty. Ah, you may well open your eyes. But if you will -consider a little, you will not be able to recall the memory of any -old woman whose white hair was so thick and abundant, and who wore it -loose, as this young one does, almost to her knees. Not many years ago -her hair was golden brown, and we used to gaze upon it and upon her -with delight and admiration--for her eyes were the brightest of any, -and her face had a beautiful color in it. - -Fill your pipe again, and draw closer to the fire. How the wind -shrieks without! There are angry spirits abroad; it is a mercy we -are comfortably housed. So! Settle yourself in your arm-chair, and I -will tell you the story of Gideon Wolf, who worked for me till he was -twenty-four years of age, and who was not satisfied with the fruits of -honest labor, because it did not enable him to grow rich in a month. -That was his sole idea of happiness--riches, nothing but riches. The -flowers of the fields, the fragrance of the hedges, the singing of -the birds, the beauty of the heavens, all the wonders of nature--they -were naught to him. He set up an idol for himself, and he worshipped -it with all his might. Did a carriage roll past the door, he would -look up from his work with discontent in his eyes, and an expression -on his face which said, as plainly as if he had uttered the words -aloud, "Why haven't _I_ a carriage? Why should _I_ walk, while others -ride?" Did a gentleman in a fine coat enter my shop to leave his watch -to be cleaned, there on Gideon's face was always the same miserable -expression. - -"Master Fink," he said, "the poor are much to be pitied." - -"So are the rich, Gideon," I answered. "I doubt whether of the two, the -poor have not the most reason to be grateful." - -"Grateful!" he cried. "For what? For having so little, while the rich -have so much?" - -"Every back to its burden," I said. "Go on with your work, my lad, and -make the best of things. You will be the happier for it." - -But it was not in his nature to follow such good advice. Did he drink -beer he turned it sour by grumbling that it wasn't wine. He envied -everybody who had finer things than he could afford to buy, and the -jingling of silver in other people's pockets sent the blood rushing -angrily through his veins. I knew that he hungered for money, but I was -not afraid that he would rob me. I was a sharp blade at my business, -and my property was safe from his itching fingers. Let a spring, a -pair of hands, the smallest of wheels be missing, and I was sure to -find it out. He was aware of this; I had taken some pains to make him -understand it. Besides, if he had robbed me of all I possessed it would -not have contented him. That is one of the curses of such natures as -his--never to be satisfied, never to be even grateful. - -When his apprenticeship was out I still employed him, paying him piece -by piece for the work he did. Had I paid him a regular wage he would -have got the advantage of me. He did not earn a great deal; after -deducting what was due for his board and lodging there was seldom at -the end of the week more than a florin for him to receive. He spent -upon his clothes more than he was warranted in doing, for he aped the -fashions of his betters. It was money thrown away; the finest clothes -in the world could not make Gideon Wolf look like a gentleman. Then he -indulged in a terrible vice which eats into the soul of a man--he was a -gambler. He had a poor mother, fifty miles away, who, he would declare -with a hypocritical look at the rafters, depended upon him for support. -With what a long face would he come to me and say, - -"Master Fink, my dear mother is sick--very, very sick! I beg of you to -lend me five florins to send her. It will be an act of true charity. -You can put it down to my account. Do not fear that you will lose -anything by me. One day I shall be rich, and I will repay you every -florin." - -But he gave his mother nothing; it was within my knowledge that during -all the years he was in my service he had not sent her the smallest -coin. Sometimes it was not for his mother that he begged money of me. - -"Ah, what an adventure, Master Fink--what a sad, melancholy adventure!" -he would say, bursting in upon me suddenly. - -"What is the matter, now, Gideon?" I would ask, preparing for the shock. - -"Oh, the world--the cruel, cruel world!" he would moan. "You know, -Master Fink, that I went from here with three florins in my pocket, -which I intended to pay Muller the tailor off the just debt I owe him." - -"Proceed, Gideon." - -"On the outskirts of the town I met a poor unfortunate woman--" - -"On the outskirts of the town, Gideon? That is not the way to Muller's -shop." - -"Muller was not in when I called, so, the day being fine, I took a walk -through the woods. Was it good or bad fortune, Master Fink, that the -idea came into my head of walking through the woods?" - -"Until you further enlighten me I cannot say." - -"You shall hear all. In the woods I met this poor unfortunate woman. -She had no shoes to her feet, and only a thin torn dress upon her body; -and oh, Master Fink, she had a baby in her arms who was sobbing for -want of food. The wretched creature told me her sad story, and begged -me, if I had a mother of my own, to save her child from starvation. -What could I do? I am poor--yes, I am poor, and the money in my pocket -really belonged to Muller, but could I resist so heart-rending an -appeal? Could _you_ have resisted it? No, you are too humane, and -because I am not rich, am I to be deprived of the pleasure of doing a -good action? I did as you would have done. Without considering how I -should replace the three florins I gave them to the poor woman, who -crawled away, calling down blessings on my head." - -"You want me to lend you three florins to pay Muller." - -"Yes, Master Fink, to lend it, not to give it. You must not rob me of -the pleasure of doing an act of charity." - -To these and numberless other stories I would listen, without troubling -myself to contradict him. What would have been the use? As long as I -kept Gideon with me it was best not to come to words with him, and I -bore with many things of which I did not approve. Occasionally I lent -him a portion of what he asked for, taking care that he did not get -too deeply in my debt, and I used to think with wonder of the amazing -amount of deceit that could be hidden in the breast of one human being. - -I see in your eyes the question, Why, if I did not like Gideon Wolf, -did I continue to employ him? Why did I keep him, an indifferent -workman, in my shop, when there were so many better men looking for -work who would have been grateful to me all the days of their lives -if I had taken them on? For it is not workmen that are difficult to -find; it is masters. Well, there was a strong human reason, and I may -speak of it now because it will hurt no one. It was not for the sake of -Gideon Wolf, but for the sake of his mother, that I kept him with me. - -Friend, I am going to open for you a chapter of my life which few have -read. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -A LOVE-CHAPTER IN THE LIFE OF MASTER FINK. - - -The village in which I was born lies fifty miles from this spot, and -is one of those places hidden in odd nooks and corners which the -busy world seems either to have forgotten or to regard as of too -slight importance to take any notice of. It moves neither backward -nor forward; it is the same to-day as it was a hundred years ago. Its -houses, its roads, its little shops, its bits of garden, its church, -are the same now as then, and, unless something startling occurs, will -be the same at the end of another hundred years. There are families -living there at this moment whose great-great-grandfathers lived -there--in the self-same cottages, grown now so old that their walls are -rotting and crumbling away. The people, with scarcely an exception, are -all of them poor, and live a life of contentment. As I should have done -perhaps--my family for five generations having done so before me--had -it not happened that I fell in love with Louisa Wagner. - -I have spoken of the beauty of Katrine Loebeg. Louisa Wagner was -even more beautiful. Do not think I say so because I loved her; it -was universally acknowledged; and just in the way Katrine was sought -after here so was Louisa sought after in the village in which I was -born. I may say, without running the risk of being thought vain, -that I was a well-looking lad. It is undoubtedly a fact that I was -industrious, and not given to tippling. From my father I learned the -mysteries of the art of watchmaking. Our family had been the village -watch and clock menders for generations. There was, however, not -enough business in that line to be picked up among the scanty and poor -population to support us, so my grandfather, and my father after him, -took to cobbling boots and shoes to eke out a living. I also learned -to cobble, and was no mean hand at it. We were, therefore, the village -watch-menders and cobblers, and managed to rub on, chiefly, it must be -owned, by the patching of leather, which is a degree or two lower in -the social scale than the art which teaches you how to put together the -delicate works of a watch. - -Louisa Wagner was the only child of a laborer on the private estate of -the owner of the village lands, and in falling in love with her I fell -in love with a girl in my own station in life. - -Heavens! how beautiful she was! Her cheeks were handsomer than the -handsomest peach, her eyes were as bright as the brightest stars, -her skin was as soft as the softest velvet. To me what a vision of -brightness! Where on this earth was to be found her equal? In my -belief, nowhere. That is the way of lovers for a time. No feeling -so potent as that which agitates the heart of a young man as he -contemplates the being upon whom he has set his affections. Gradually -the change comes, as we all live to learn. The heavenly light fades -slowly away, and life's hard lessons, no less than the strange workings -of the human heart, recall us to a sterner reality. Happy those who -find themselves cast upon a peaceful shore, where they can enjoy -the calmer and more enduring affection which sometimes follows the -subsidence of love's delirium! - -For weeks and weeks I nursed my passion, fed on it, was made happy by -it. Louisa Wagner did not appear to look on me with coldness; nay, -she seemed flattered by my ardent glances, and, as I believed, had a -feeling stronger for me than that of ordinary friendship. That she -should love me with such devotion as I loved her was not to be thought -of. This love of a young man when it is pure, as mine was, ennobles -him, and beautifies all surrounding things. I sang at my work, though -it was even so mean as the patching of boots. Louisa had two pairs of -boots, and I soled and heeled them, one after the other, and my heart -went into the stitches. I held them in my hands and kissed them--yes, -I am not ashamed to confess it, I kissed them in a kind of rapture. -I took them to bed with me. By the side of my bed hung a cage with a -linnet in it. I told the bird in a whisper that the boots belonged to -Louisa--ah, what foolish, foolish things we do when the fever is upon -us!--and the linnet trilled out its joyfullest notes. I laughed, I -chirruped, I shed tears, and when I knelt at my bedside and repeated -my prayers, I pressed Louisa's boots to my heart. Upon the soling and -heeling of those boots I would have liked to challenge the world. -Surely such excellent workmanship could not have been produced by other -hands than mine. Louisa Wagner thought so, and said so, as she took -them from me and examined them. - -"You will see," I said, "they will last for years." - -"They are beautifully done," she said, and I fancied she gave me an -admiring glance; "such fine stitches! You are really clever." - -"I can earn a living," I said, and my voice trembled because of the -meaning I wished to convey in the words. - -"But," she said, "I cannot pay you for them for a long, long while. You -will have to wait." - -"In money," I said, "you can never pay me." - -"Oh yes, I can, Gustave Fink," she replied. - -"No," I insisted, "indeed you never can." - -"Why?" she asked. - -"I did not do them for money. I wish you to accept them from me; it -will make me very proud." - -She thanked me quite readily, saying, "Well, if you will have it so, -Gustave Fink," and gave me the sweetest smile. - -I ran home in a tremor of delight, carrying her smile with me. It is a -fact. Her smiling face was before me all the way. - -Of course I told my linnet the news--how that Louisa had accepted my -work, and paid me for it with the sweetest smile--and the bird sang -gayly, and the rhythm and the tenderness of the song found an echo in -my heart. Up to this point the linnet was my sole confidant. Not to -another creature did I breathe my secret. None the less did I look upon -myself as Louisa Wagner's accepted lover. After what had passed--which, -as you see, I magnified into the most ridiculous importance--how could -it be otherwise? I was satisfied, I was happy. That when I could find -courage to speak plainly to her she would place her hand in mine, and -permit me to touch her lips with mine, I entertained not the slightest -doubt. - -I was a proud young fellow the following Sunday when I saw her walking -in the boots I had repaired for her, and which looked like new. She -wore a new cotton dress, and a bit of new ribbon round her white -throat, and I settled it in my mind that they were worn for me. No man -has ever tasted a greater happiness than I did on that day. But I could -not find courage to speak to Louisa of the love which made my heart -like a garden of sweet flowers. I walked by her side and was contented. - -Ah, how it all comes back to me! The meeting at the church door, -the walk through the churchyard and the village till we came to her -father's cottage, the stupid talk about the boots! - -"I never felt so comfortable in my life," she said; "they are as easy -as if I had worn them for years. And they do not make my feet look -large." - -Her feet look large! In my eyes they were the feet of a princess. Now, -as she put out her foot, and I was gazing at it in a sort of rapture, -who should come up to us but a neighbor of mine, a wheelwright, Steven -Wolf by name. - -I can see the picture as plainly as if it were bodily before me in -the room. I turn towards the fire, and I see the picture there in the -glowing coals. - -"The prettiest foot in all the village," cried Steven Wolf, "and the -prettiest mouth, and the loveliest eyes!" - -His voice jarred upon me. It was like the voice of a brawler calling -out in the church and interrupting the service. No wonder, I thought, -that Louisa should blush as he gazed boldly at her. His look was a -profanation. To save the girl I loved from further indignity I bade her -good-bye and left her. Turning my head for a moment as I walked away, -it pierced my heart like the thrust of a needle to see that Steven Wolf -had followed her into her father's cottage. - -I have called Steven Wolf a wheelwright. Well, he might be that for -two days in the week; for the other five an indolent sot. He bore -a bad character in the village, and there was much suspicious talk -concerning him. How could Louisa's father encourage such a character at -his hearth? But I could not forget that old Wagner and Steven Wolf were -by no means on unfriendly terms. They were often seen together. "When -Louisa is mine," I thought, "and I have the right to protect her, she -shall have nothing to say to this vagabond." When Louisa was mine! Ah, -fraught with happiness was the future I mapped out! I resolved to speak -to her soon--before the end of the week, if I could find an opportunity. - -On the Monday Steven Wolf thrust his head into my little shop, where I -sat working. - -"What a fine pair of soles you put on Louisa Wagner's boots!" he cried. -"Here--mend mine at the same price." And he flung down a pair. - -I threw them back at him with passionate words. He picked them up and -walked off, laughing heartily. In the evening of the same day I saw -him and Louisa walking together, and I made the acquaintance of that -torturer, jealousy. There was no sleep for me that night. When I came -upon them Louisa did not see me, but he, looking me full in the face, -gave me a malicious, triumphant smile to feed upon. I did feed upon it -for days and days till I could bear it no longer, and determined to -know the best or the worst that could befall me. - -I spoke to Louisa; I declared my love for her; I told her I was able -to support her, and I asked her to be my wife. She answered me in the -kindest manner, and I learned that she had already promised to become -the wife of Steven Wolf. I stood transfixed; my life seemed most -suddenly and horribly to have come to an end. - -"Do not hate me," she said. "I am very, very sorry!" - -"I cannot hate you," I replied. My voice was so strange in my ears that -I could scarcely believe it was I who was speaking. "I shall love you -all my days." - -"We are still friends," she said, holding out her hand. - -"Yes," I said, sadly, "we are still friends. It is not possible I could -ever be your enemy." - -I took her hand, and held it in mine. Tears gushed from my eyes as I -felt the sympathetic pressure of her fingers. - -"You will see some other girl whom you will love," she said. "You are a -good man; every one speaks well of you; your wife will be proud of you." - -"I shall never marry," I said, "I love only one." - -Our conversation was interrupted by Steven Wolf, who stole abruptly -upon us. - -"No poaching!" he cried. "Respect the rights of property." - -"It is not in that way," I said, and I confess that at that moment I -felt a deadly hatred towards him, "I should speak of the girl I was -going to marry." - -"You choose your way," he retorted, "and I will choose mine. Not a bad -way, is it?" - -And he put his arm round Louisa's waist. Her eyes were cast down; she -never looked at me. - -"Words are wasted between us," I said. "Farewell, Louisa Wagner. May -you be happy." - -He sent a shout of mocking laughter after me. - -"Truly," I could not help thinking, "in good feeling I have the -advantage of you." - -I suffered terribly, and for some time my mind was plunged into such -darkness that I could see no gleam of goodness in all the wide world. -That is the selfish view we take of things when sorrow comes to our -door. "Why," I asked myself, "does Louisa Wagner marry that brute and -gambler instead of an honest, hard-working youngster who not only -loves but respects her? For what reason does she prefer him to me?" -If I could have answered those questions I might be able to tell you -more than I know of the workings of a woman's heart. It is beyond me, -and beyond you, and therefore I have kept myself free from woman's -power from that day to this. I recovered my peace of mind, and so that -it might not again be disturbed by the sight of the woman I loved, -I left my native village with my knapsack on my shoulders, and came -here, where I set up in business for myself as a watch-maker, and have -jogged on ever since, with a fair share of happiness and content. -There is no condition of life in which a man has not good reason to be -grateful. I have grown to know this, and it has been of value to me in -my reflections upon life's trials and disappointments. I have my work, -I have my connection, I owe no one a florin, I am at peace with the -world. That is happiness enough. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -RELATES HOW GIDEON WOLF BECAME MASTER FINK'S APPRENTICE. - - -Year after year passed peacefully and prosperously over my head until -eighteen years had gone by. I was fortunate in many ways--in making -friends, in earning respect, in forming a connection, and in obtaining -the services of old Anna, who served me so long and so faithfully. -Her age and her lack of beauty saved me from much anxiety. She had no -wooers, no men dancing at her heels; I doubt, if I myself had offered -to marry her, whether she would have accepted me. Not that such an idea -ever entered my head. Heaven forbid! I had too great a respect for her -years. - -One morning, at the end of this time, a woman entered my shop--a pale, -thin, elderly-looking woman, with an expression of intense weariness on -her worn face. She gazed at me wistfully, and I at her in pity. - -"Master Fink?" she said. - -"Yes," I said, "I am he." - -As I spoke I recognized her, changed as she was. My old sweetheart, -Louisa Wagner, stood before me. It saddened me to look at her. Her eyes -were dim, her hair was nearly white; and my hair was still brown, and -my eyes clear and strong, and in my heart some gladness reigned. Ah -me! Time's hand had weighed heavily upon her during the eighteen years -which had flown by since last I saw her. Had, then, all the flowers of -her life withered? No--one still bloomed, and brought joy to her; but -this I had yet to learn. No joy was now in her face, only deep anxiety -and weariness. I saw that she was ready to faint from fatigue. - -"Have you come specially to see me?" I asked. - -"Yes," she sighed. - -"Where from?" - -"From our native village." - -"You have ridden here?" I said. - -"No," she replied, faintly, "I walked." - -"Walked!" I exclaimed. "Why, it is fifty miles!" - -"Yes," she murmured, "it is fifty miles. What a long, long road! But I -am here at last, thank God!" - -I divined that it was no light errand that had brought her to me, and -it was evident that her strength was spent. It was as much as she could -do to prevent herself from sinking to the ground. I hastily summoned -Anna from her kitchen, and bade her attend to my visitor. A heart of -quick sympathy beat in my old Anna's breast, and without asking who the -woman was she administered to her wants. It was not without difficulty -that this was accomplished, for Louisa was so eager to disclose her -errand that, had she been allowed to have her way, she would not have -tasted food until she had acquainted me with her mission. But Anna -insisted, and so did I, and she had not the strength to reject the -kindly offices which were forced upon her. When she had drank a basin -of nourishing soup which Anna prepared--I never really knew what soup -was till Anna made it for me; what a treasure that woman was!--I told -her I was ready to listen to her. - -"I have come to you for help," she said. - -"I will give it to you," I replied, "if it is in my power." - -She bent her head humbly and gratefully. - -"You can see," she said, "that I am very poor." - -"I grieve, to see it." - -And indeed my heart bled for her. Had the picture of her as she was -at that time presented itself to me eighteen years before, with the -words, "This is what the beautiful girl by your side will become in -a few years," I should have laughed at it in derision as a monstrous -impossibility. Her eyes that were bright as the stars, her cheek -that rivalled the peach in delicate bloom, her skin that was soft as -velvet, where were they now? Ah, Beauty, Beauty, be not over-vain and -confident! Old Father Time has tricks in store for you of which you do -not dream as you walk, lithe and proud and happy, through the flowery -paths of youth. Be humble, maiden, and grateful for your fair outside, -and pray to God not to weigh you down with care and trouble. - -These thoughts crossed my mind as I gazed at the pale, thin woman who -had walked fifty weary miles to beg me to assist her. - -Presently she disclosed what she wished me to do for her. - -Her husband, Steven Wolf, had been dead six years, having done his best -during his life to imbitter her days. She did not tell me this; she -did not say that he had ill-treated her, had passed his hours in the -ale-house, had made her slave for him, had never given her a loving -word after the first few months of their marriage; but it was the -truth. He had led her a life of misery, and, when he died, left her -in the direst poverty. She took up her burden meekly, and battled on -as women do, more bravely than men, and did her duty to the uttermost -extent of her power. Her parents were dead, and she had no friends in -a position to help her. Indeed, she led me to infer, more from the -construction I placed upon her words than from the words themselves, -that the friends of her girlhood had fallen off from her--driven away, -of course, by the vagabond she had married. But she had one treasure, -one dear, priceless treasure, which compensated for all her suffering, -which kept hope alive even in her sad life. She had a child, a boy, -and his name was Gideon. Two other children had been born to her, but -she had lost them, and Gideon was the only one left. A heavenly light -came into her eyes as she spoke of him; color touched her cheeks; her -skin seemed to grow whiter and smoother. There, in the mother, I saw -once again, for a brief space, the presentment of the beautiful girl I -had loved in my youth. She told me much of her darling that interested -me--how brave he was, how truthful, bright, intelligent--how that he -was the pride of her life, and the best son a loving mother was ever -blessed with. - -"He is growing fast," she said, her eyes beaming with pride, "and, -please God, in a few years will be a fine handsome man. I wish to -perform my duty by him; I wish him to learn a trade from an honest -master who will set him a good example. Your father, Gustave Fink, was -an upright, just man, and it was his example that helped you to become -one yourself. In our little village there is no opportunity for a lad -to learn a trade that will advance him in the world. He must learn it -elsewhere, and my prayer is that I may live to see my boy prosperous -and honored, with a wife and children about him who shall look up to -him with love and respect, and with his old mother sitting perhaps in a -corner of his fireside, praising the good Lord for the blessings he has -showered upon her. Ah, what happiness, what happiness!" - -Her slight form shook, and her face was bedewed with tears, as she -spoke of this happy future. - -"Do you propose," I asked, "to leave the village yourself, if you find -a master elsewhere for your son?" - -"Oh no," she replied with eager haste; "I should be a clog upon him, -a burden; he could not support me, and it might be that I should not -be able to support myself among strangers. No, I must stop in the old -place, where I can manage to make a living, and I will wait patiently -till my son is a man, and says, 'Mother, come to me; I have a home for -you.' Oh, Gustave Fink, you took a bold step when you left our village, -a bold right step, for the world has prospered with you." - -"I acknowledge it gratefully," I said. - -"This shop is your own--you are the master here." - -"It is my own--I am the master here." - -"Be my son's master! Teach him your trade--let him profit by your -example; counsel him, guide him! You will lose nothing by it, he is -so good, so quick, so willing, so obedient! If you searched the whole -world through you would not find another lad so bright, so easy to -teach and mould. Ah, Gustave Fink, I beg of you, I implore you!" - -So eager was she, so fearful lest I should refuse her, that she would -have knelt to me had I not prevented her. - -My mind had been made up while she was speaking. Long before she -finished her appeal I knew what proposal she was about to make to me, -and I had resolved to do as she wished me to do. Do not misunderstand -me. I was not influenced by any stupid sentimentality in the matter. -No, no all that had passed away, and I was now a practical man who -would not permit sentiment to interfere with his business. I had a -shrewd eye for a good bargain, and here was one unexpectedly offered to -me. Besides, was it not a fine revenge? - -"Louisa Wolf," I said, "I will do what you desire your weary journey -shall not be fruitless. I will take your son as my apprentice, and will -do my best by him." - -She simply said, "God will reward you!" and then she turned aside, and -cried quietly to herself. - -She remained with me for quite three hours, resting herself for her -return journey home, and she accepted a trifle of money to assist -her on her way. Not a word of the days that were gone was spoken by -either of us--that will show you that there was no sentiment mixed up -with this affair. I did not mention the name of Steven Wolf, nor did -she, nor did the slightest reference to the love I had borne for her -escape our lips. What we thought, we thought. It is necessary sometimes -to keep a strict watch over tongue and mind, so that our worldly -calculations may not be upset. Her lips quivered as she pressed my -hand and bade me good-bye; but it was not I who caused her emotion; -it was the thought of her son Gideon, from whom she was so soon to be -separated. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -MASTER FINK HAS A SINGULAR DREAM. - - -But although in our waking hours we are generally successful in keeping -the workings of our mind in check, it is different when we are asleep. -Then we are the slaves, and imagination is the master, the magician -which plays us the most extravagant pranks. It is like sitting in a -theatre, witnessing the representation of a play which sways us this -way and that, which makes us laugh, which makes us weep, which makes us -enjoy, which makes us suffer. - -On the night following Louisa's departure I dreamed of the old days -and of Louisa in the pride of her beauty. I was sitting on my low -stool, soling and heeling her boots, golden boots, with jewels round -the eyelet holes. A silver hammer was in my hand, and as I tapped and -tapped and drove in the shining nails, musical notes rang out. - -"Louisa is yours she loves you, loves you, loves you!" - -And then the linnet which hung above me in a crystal cage piped sweetly, - -"Let me out--let me out!" - -I opened the door of the cage, and straight through the window flew the -little bird--through the open window, from which I saw the church and -the churchyard so closely associated with one memorable Sunday in my -life. And who should come dancing towards me over the tombstones but -Louisa, dressed in the self-same dress she had worn on that Sabbath, -and with the self-same bit of ribbon at her throat. The linnet, -wheeling round and round her pretty head, encircled it with thin lines -of light, and still in the musical ringing of the silver hammer I heard -the song, - -"She loves you, loves you, loves you!" - -Suddenly we were walking in a great field of flowers, and I was gazing -in rapture at Louisa's golden boots. A thousand linnets were singing -above us, the flowers were whispering around us, Louisa's hand was -resting in mine. - -"Then it is all a dream these eighteen years," I said to her. - -And she answered, "Yes, it is all a dream. How could you be so foolish -as to believe that I loved any man but you? What proof of my love shall -I give you?" - -"Make this field of flowers," I said, "grow above our heads, so that we -shall be hidden from the world, and there shall be only you and I." - -Immediately the flowers began to grow higher, higher, higher, shutting -out the light till we were in almost perfect darkness, and then the -linnet came and perched on my shoulder, and whispered, - -"She is fooling you! She is not a young girl at all; she is an old -witch! Put me in your waistcoat-pocket, and you will see what she -really is." - -I did so, and the linnet ticked like a watch: - -"She loves--not you--not you--not you. She loves--a wolf--a wolf--a -wolf." - -And through a pathway of light in the field of flowers ran Louisa, -changed into a shrivelled old woman with gold boots on her feet, and -after her raced Steven Wolf, who, catching her, flung her high in the -air. I rushed with fury upon the monster, and he raised a great sheet -of bright brass, and crashed it on my head-- - -Bang! The din was enough to drive one crazy, and Louisa screaming at -the top of her voice as she spun round and round in the air, with her -golden boots-- - -Bang! Bang! Bang! I jumped out of bed in a fright, and ran to the -bedroom door and threw it open; and there I beheld old Anna sitting -in the passage outside, crying in her loudest voice that every bone -in her body was broken, while a lot of my best plates and dishes, all -in little pieces, lay around her. She was coming down-stairs with a -trayful of crockery in her arms when she tripped, and fell all the way -down. That was the end of my dream. I could not help laughing heartily -at it, which made old Anna cross-tempered the whole of the day. - -After breakfast I thought over my interview with Louisa, and of the new -apprentice who would soon take up his abode with us. How his mother -would grieve at parting from him! It would never have done for me to -have married that trustful woman. She was so unworldly that she had -never even asked me whether Gideon was to receive any wages during the -seven years of his apprenticeship. It was an act of folly which would -have made me angry had she been my wife; but she had been another -man's, and he had broken her heart. That was as clear as the light -which, shining through my shop-windows, had exposed her gray hairs to -the eyes of one who, years ago, was ready to die for her. To think -that, at any time of his life, a man should be so simple as to have -such ideas! - -So Gideon Wolf came to me, and, being duly apprenticed, lived with me -and learned my trade. Old Anna was against it from the first. I had -taken the important step without consulting her, and the moment she set -eyes on Gideon she prophesied that evil would come of his residence in -the house. - -"Have not things gone on well enough to please you, Master Fink?" she -asked. - -"They have always gone on well," I replied. - -"Then you must be growing avaricious in your old age," she remarked. - -"Old age has not come upon me yet, Anna," I said, "and if I had a grain -of avariciousness in my body I would pluck it out by the root." - -Anna was as much a companion as a servant, and I had too great a -respect for her to be angry at anything she said. - -"Why do you make the change, then, Master Fink?" I could not answer her -without deceiving her, so I merely shrugged my shoulders and smiled. - -"Ah, you may smile," she continued, "and make light of it; but that -won't alter what's done. Tell me one thing, Master Fink." - -"I will tell you many, Anna that is, as many as I can." - -"When you have a watch in good going order, one that has not lost -or gained a minute for years, that you can depend upon as you can -depend upon the sun, is it the act of a good workman, out of simple -wilfulness, to take it to pieces and put it together again?" - -"I understand your meaning, Anna, but rely upon me--I have a good -reason for what I have done. Let us not anticipate evil. Go down to -your kitchen, and prepare for me my favorite dinner, French beans -stewed sweet and sour. You have not your equal in that dish; you really -make me enjoy my life." - -Before many months had passed I shared Anna's fears respecting -Gideon Wolf. Little by little it was made clear to me that he had a -thoroughly bad nature, that he was sly, greedy, envious, small-minded, -mean-spirited. Occasionally I sent his mother a small sum of money -which I said was due for services he had rendered; and you may be sure, -in addition to this, that I paid him fair wages. But had I known how he -would turn out, I would as soon have taken the son of the Arch Fiend -himself for my apprentice as the son of Louisa Wolf. Too late did I -discover that I had made a bad bargain. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -RELATES HOW GIDEON WOLF WAS SEEN BY OLD ANNA PLAYING CARDS WITH THE -DEVIL. - - -He grew into a tall, thin, sallow-faced young man, about as ill-favored -as one of Pharaoh's lean kine; with large splay feet; with sandy hair; -with a nose which looked as if it had been broken in the middle by a -violent blow; with eyes as dull as the eyes of a fish; with a voice in -which was never heard a note of natural gayety. Such men are a mistake -in the world, and how any young woman can be drawn to them is a mystery -which I defy students of human nature to satisfactorily explain. A -mother's love for her ugly bantling is easily understood, but a fine -young woman's, with bright eyes in her head, for such a scarecrow as -Gideon Wolf is beyond ordinary comprehension. Yet they draw prizes -these crooked-grained ones, while better men are left to sigh in vain. - -You have already heard how Gideon passed through his apprenticeship, -and how I continued to employ him as a workman when his time was out. -He was twenty-two years of age when, on a certain evening, old Anna, -who had been out marketing, burst in upon me with a plump goose in her -hand, and cried in a great heat, - -"Fine doings, Master Fink, fine doings! It is high time the world came -to an end." - -"What, in Heaven's name, has put you in such a fever?" I inquired, -looking up from the newspaper in which I was reading an account of a -wonderful ox, which had a man's head growing out of one shoulder and a -turtle out of the other. "Ah," I cried, in sudden fear, "that goose! -You have been cheated. It is not a fresh goose; it ought to have been -eaten days ago, and the dealer will not change it. Give it to me--I -will go to him myself--" - -"No need to trouble, Master Fink," said Anna, in a slightly acid tone; -"the goose is a good goose, and I bought it cheap. I should like to see -the dealer who could take me in. Look at it." - -I did more than look at it. I poked its ribs; I felt its fat breast; my -eyes glistened. - -"Already, Anna," I cried, joyously, "already I smell the stuffing!" - -"I don't deny it; I am fond of good cooking. It is nothing to be -ashamed of; we were sent into the world to eat, as well as to do other -things, and it is right that we should enjoy it." - -"It is not the goose that has put me in a fever," said Anna, "it is -Gideon Wolf." - -I pricked up my ears. "Has he been behaving rudely to you, Anna?" - -"What!" she screamed, in a voice so shrill that I jumped in my chair. -"He! A lamp-post like him! If he dared, I'd box his ears till I set -them on fire!" - -I laughed quietly; I could not help it, her indignation was so comical. -"Well, then," I asked, wiping my eyes, for I had brought the tears into -them, "what has he done?" - -Her reply was brief and startling: "Gideon Wolf is courting." - -"It is not possible," I cried; "you must be dreaming." - -"I don't dream," said Anna, "with my eyes wide open. This very evening, -not ten minutes ago, as I was coming home, after buying the goose, I -saw him with his arm round her waist." - -"Bound the goose's waist!" I exclaimed, for really she was beginning to -confuse me. - -She looked at me solemnly, reproachfully. "Pray to-night, Master Fink," -she said, "to be forgiven for making a joke of my words!" And she was -about, to leave me. - -"Stay, Anna," I said, conscience-stricken, "and pardon me. With his arm -around whose waist?" - -"Round Katrine Loebeg's," replied Anna, sorrowfully. "The child--the -poor, misguided child! It was only yesterday I was nursing her on my -knee and tossing her in the air." - -Anna was deeply moved, and I scarcely less than she, at this -disclosure. It was hardly to be believed that a fresh young heart like -that which beat in the breast of pretty Katrine Loebeg should have -given itself up to this scarecrow. But it was true. Gideon Wolf had -cast a spell upon her, and she was as secure in his wiles as a trout -on a hook. Sweet Katrine Loebeg! whom I looked upon almost as a child -of my own, who could have chosen from the best, and for whom many a -manly heart was aching! An orphan, too, with no father to protect -her, and no mother to warn her of the pitfalls which lie in the path -of unsuspecting, innocent maidenhood. That made it worse--a thousand -times worse. What could there be in Gideon Wolf to attract that young -soul? What unholy arts had he used to draw her to him? Incredible as it -seemed, it was most unhappily true that he had infatuated her, and was -paying court to her. - -"Did you speak to them, Anna?" I asked. - -"No; they did not see me." - -"But surely, Anna, this was not done in the open street!" - -"No; that's where the villainy of it is. You know the archway on the -right hand side of the Court of Public Justice. At this time of the -day scarcely any one passes through it. I should not have done so had -I not wanted to go to the Blind House to give Mother Morel her paper -of snuff. She is ninety-eight, but her nose is in splendid condition. -It is the only sense she has left to enjoy. She is blind, she is deaf, -she mumbles so that it is impossible to understand a word she says, and -she has scarcely any feeling in her. Her nose is the only thing she -has left which convinces her that she still belongs to this world; it -is her sole comfort. Well, when I went through the archway no one was -there, and outside the archway there were only the pigeons picking up -the crumbs; but when I came back from the Blind House, there, in the -darkest corner of the archway, was your treasure, Gideon Wolf--" - -"Don't call him my treasure," I interrupted, mildly; "I have not a high -opinion of him." - -"Why did you take him as your apprentice, then? I warned you how it -would be." - -"Is it possible," I cried, testily, "to find in this world a woman who -will tell a story without flying round it in every direction but the -right one? Get out of that archway, Anna." - -"There was Gideon Wolf in the very darkest part of it, with his arm -round Katrine's waist. And unless my ears are mistaken, I heard the -sound of a kiss." - -"When two young people are together like that, Anna, it is not an -unlikely thing to happen." - -"Well," she asked, sharply, "what are you going to do about it?" - -"That is a difficult question to answer. What can I do?" - -"There is no difficulty. You must prevent it from going any further." - -"How, Anna? In what way? Gideon is no longer my apprentice he is his -own master; he is an independent workman." - -"A fine workman he has turned out to be!" she cried, scornfully. "Over -and over again have I said to myself, 'Why does Master Fink keep such -a creature in the house? Why does he not bid him pack and be off?' It -would not be believed if people knew all." - -She was not in the secret of the little romance that was played when -Gideon's mother and I were boy and girl together. I had the greatest -confidence in Anna, but this sentiment of my youthful days I had not -divulged to any one. Besides, if in an unguarded moment I had confided -in Anna I am doubtful whether she would have sympathized with me. She -would not have looked at it through my spectacles. She might even have -lost confidence in me, and that was a risk I did not care to run. - -"You manage your kitchen," I said to this faithful old servant, "and I -will manage my shop. Every one knows his own business best. If I took -the liberty of suggesting to you how you should cook that plump goose -you have in your hand, I should not be surprised to feel it flying -about my head, dead as it is. - -"From the first day I came here," said Anna, and there was really a -touch of pathos in her voice, "everything has gone right in my kitchen. -Never a joint have I spoiled, nor a bird, nor has an ounce of fat or -a slice of bread been wasted. Out of what has been saved by careful -management we have even been able to feed the beggars. Go down-stairs -now, and you will see the saucepans, and the pans, and the moulds -shining like new silver, and if you find a speck of dust on a plate or -a glass you may cut off my head." - -It was true, every word of it, and I should have melted into tears had -it not been for the tragic tone in which my good Anna said I might cut -off her head. - -"And why," she continued, and now her voice began to swell, "do I -tell you this? To praise myself--to make you think I am a miracle of -a woman? No, Master Fink, you know better than that. I am no miracle; -only an ordinary creature, who is contented when things go on in a -quiet and honest fashion. It is to prove to you how easy it is for -one pair of hands to do a thing well, and for another pair to make -everything go wrong. Had _I_ taken an apprentice, some wench who -thought more of her own stomach than her master's, your meat would -have been undone or done to rags, and your favorite dishes burned to a -cinder. But I would have no apprentice; the work I had to do was done, -and that was enough for me. I was not going to bring confusion upon the -house. And your shop, before you took Gideon Wolf into it, was like -my kitchen, a model. You got up in the morning, you had your meals in -peace, you did with your own one pair of hands every bit of work there -was to do, you were putting by money, and this house was a house of -truth and honesty. No lies to disturb us then, Master Fink; no deceit, -no treachery, no unholy work--" - -"Stop, Anna," I exclaimed, "for Heaven's sake, stop! Everything you -have said is true, except the last. Whatever else takes place in the -house, there is no unholy work going on in it." - -"I tell you, Master Fink," said Anna, and her voice became so solemn -that I felt the hair rising on my head, "that there is unholy work -being carried on in your house. The Evil One visits it regularly!" - -I stared at her with my mouth wide open. Had the most savory morsel -been popped into it at that moment I should not have been able to move -my jaws; there it would have remained, uneaten. - -"Explain to me what you mean," I managed to murmur. - -"Explain to me," she retorted, "what Gideon Wolf means, by getting up -in the middle of the night to play cards with the Devil!" - -You may imagine my astonishment; you might have thrown me from my chair -to the ground with your little finger. "Playing cards in the middle of -the night with the Devil!" I gasped. - -"Yes, Master Fink, with the Devil. Doesn't Gideon Wolf sleep in the -next room to mine, and isn't there a hole in the wall behind the -curtains of my bed, into which I have stuffed a piece of soft rag, and -tied it with a string to my pillow, so that it can't be taken out on -the other side without disturbing me? Well, then. The first time I saw -anything of Gideon Wolf's unholy work was six months ago, when, waking -up in the middle of the night, I heard him talking to Some One in his -room. My room was dark--I have nothing on my conscience, and can sleep -without a light--but in his the candle was burning, as I saw when I -quietly took the rag out of the hole and peeped through. There was no -harm in my doing it--I am old enough to be his grandmother. I knew -that, lawfully, there should be only you, me, and Gideon in the house. -You were asleep down-stairs. Who could it be, then, that Gideon Wolf -was talking to? It was my duty to see, and I am thankful that I am not -a coward. Gideon was sitting in his shirt-sleeves at his little table; -his back was towards me, and, as I have told you, there was a candle -alight. He was shuffling and dealing out a pack of cards, talking all -the time in a voice you never heard, Master Fink, all the years he has -been with you. It was not a natural voice; the bad passions expressed -in it made me shudder. He dealt cards to himself and to Whoever it -was that sat opposite to him. I did not see the Being he was playing -with, but it could be nobody but Satan, who has the power of making -himself invisible to any person he pleases--and he didn't choose to -show himself to me. But Gideon saw him clearly enough, for he spoke to -the Fiend, and shook his fist at him, and swore at him, and when he -was winning, grinned in his face--a diabolical grin, such as I never -saw on the face of a proper man. Now and then I thought I heard a -faint, wicked laugh from the Fiend, but I could not make sure of it. -Gideon kept an account of something--of his winnings and losings, I -suppose--on pieces of paper, upon which he wrote figures at the end -of every game. 'That makes five hundred,' Gideon said; 'that makes a -thousand; that makes fifteen hundred; that makes two thousand. Where am -I to get the money from? How am I to pay you?' I knew how he would have -to pay; it was his soul that was being gambled away. It was when Gideon -was speaking in that way that I thought I heard the laughing of the -Fiend. This went on for nearly an hour, I should say, and then Gideon -Wolf, dashing the pack of cards against the wall, rose from the table -with a face as white as my table-cloths. Something seemed to vanish out -of the room, and Gideon, after muttering to himself for a minute or -two, burned all the little pieces of paper at the candle, and gathering -the ashes put them in the stove. Having done this with great care, he -collected the pack of cards, blew out the candle, and went to bed. The -next morning when I went to his room I looked into his stove, and there -I saw the burned ashes of the pieces of paper, and I knew I had not -been dreaming." - -"But, Anna," I said, "why have you not told me this before?" - -"Because," she replied, "you make a scoff of sacred things--for which -I am afraid you will be punished unless I pray you off; and I try hard -to--yes, Master Fink, I pray for you every day of my life." - -"You do me a great wrong," I said; "never in my life have I scoffed at -sacred things." - -"You don't believe in the Devil," she said, shaking her head dolefully. - -"Not in the way you do, Anna. But it would be foolish for us to discuss -religious matters. When you find me doing an evil action, then will be -the time to pray for me. Did you ever see Gideon play cards again in -that way?" - -"A dozen times at least. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses. When he -wins there is an unholy light in his eyes; when he loses he curses and -swears and walks up and down the room, clinching his fists and waving -them in the air. But if I had not seen what I have seen it would not -alter my opinion of him. If he were an honest man--which he is not and -a handsome man--which he is not and if he didn't play cards with the -Devil--even then he is no fit lover for an innocent girl like Katrine -Loebeg. And so I shall tell her, whether she likes it or not." - -"Do so," I said, "and I will also speak to her." - -"It is your duty, Master Fink. You knew her father, and respected him. -If he were alive this day he would take that comrade of the Evil One by -the neck between his finger and thumb and send him spinning into the -gutter. If I were a man I'd do it myself. You seem to know very little -of this Gideon Wolf of yours. I'll tell you something else concerning -him. Who do you think he goes to see every Friday night, as regularly -as clock-work?" - -"I cannot guess." - -"Pretzel the miser, who lives in the Temple--Pretzel, your enemy -with the evil eye, who hasn't a friend in the world but Gideon -Wolf--Pretzel, that the little children run away from when he shows his -ugly face, and that the very dogs in the streets snarl and bark at! Now -I've given you a good stomach full, Master Fink, and I wish you joy of -your apprentice." - -Anna was very unjust to me, but I ascribed it to her excited feelings. -She made amends to me that very night, by placing before me for supper -the goose she had bought for the next day's dinner. Ah, if women only -knew the effect of such a thing upon a man's spirits! The very smell -was enough to dispel anger and vexation. If a young girl were to come -to me for counsel before she was married, if she were to ask me how she -could chain her husband to her, how she could make him love her all -the days of his life, I should say to her, "Look after his stomach, my -child. Make him nice stews and savory dishes. When he cuts into the -beef with the knife you have sharpened for him, let him behold the -gravy running out of it. It softens the heart. And when you give him -a roast goose, be sure that you give him plenty of stuffing with it." -But no one could roast a goose like old Anna. No one, no one! Upon her -tombstone ought to have been cut the words, "Here lieth a woman who -could roast a goose to perfection, and who made the finest stews in the -world." - -When Anna placed that goose before me I gave utterance to a long, deep -sigh of satisfaction, and I looked at her with a smile in my eyes. Her -face lighted up in an instant. You should have seen it; it was like -the sun breaking out. Did I not know in my inmost soul that she had -been suffering because she believed she had done me an injustice? And -in an instant everything was cleared up through the savory steam--more -eloquent than the finest words that rose from the hot roast goose. - -But there is never joy without sorrow. Gideon Wolf came into the room -just as I put the knife into the breast. - -"A hot roast goose!" he cried, gleefully. "If I like one thing better -than another it is a hot roast goose for supper." - -And he drew his chair close to the table, and held out a plate. - -I could not take my knife out of the breast, the fattest slices of -which I intended for my own eating, and help him to the long joint of -the leg. Sadly I laid the fat slices on his plate, and when he said, -"Don't trouble about the stuffing, Master Fink I'll help myself;" I -submitted without a word, but in silent wrath. He devoured the best -part of that goose, and nearly the whole of the stuffing. What could be -expected of such a gourmand? As for Anna, she went out of the room in -such a state of vexation that I am sure she could not have got a wink -of sleep that night. - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -PRETZEL THE MISER, WITH THE EVIL EYE. - - -Of Anna's revelations, those which troubled me most were that relating -to Pretzel the miser, and that relating to Katrine Loebeg. Of the -intimacy which she had discovered, by means of a hole in the wall, -between the Devil and Gideon Wolf I soon disposed. The world abounds -in men who feed on delusions, and who find their greatest comfort -therein. The majority of these men are beings who hunger after what is -not within their reach, or who are envious of their neighbors. Gideon -Wolf, hungering for wealth, and seeing no practical road to its swift -attainment, flew to his imagination for the realization of his desire. -He played cards in the solitude of his room with a Shadow, and won of -it or lost to it great sums of money. There is a certain distinction, -and also a certain comfort, in this delusion. Imaginary millions are -involved in the turning up of a card, and the high play affords a -triumph when a fortune is won, and a scarcely less enjoyable despair -when it is lost. So much for Gideon Wolf's folly in playing cards with -the Devil. That I did not believe in the personality of the Evil One -was, in my old Anna's eyes, a terrible sin. She herself had the firmest -belief that he walked the earth, a solid body, horns, hoofs, tail, and -all complete. No, the Devil did not trouble me, but Pretzel the miser -did. - -This Pretzel was, in my opinion, the most abominable man in the town. -He was a miser, and a money-lender at exorbitant interest. One hundred, -two hundred, even four hundred per cent., did not satisfy him; he was -never satisfied till he had extracted the last copper from the unhappy -people who went to him for assistance. A little, thin, dried-up old -man, with a joyless laugh. Out of his whole body I do not believe you -could have squeezed a teaspoonful of blood. The number of people he -had ruined! I could not count them. And all done under the shadow of -the law. Yes, he was always, always right, and his victims always, -always wrong. The judges and the lawyers all declared so--not because -they wished to favor him, but because they were compelled to go by -the letter of the law. "I want nothing more than my rights," he would -say; "look at my bond." And there was never a flaw in it, never the -smallest crevice that a poor wretch could creep through to escape from -his clutches. All, gracious heaven! A heartless money-lender's bond. -That it is necessary he should be upheld in it--that he should be -allowed to prey, to blast, to ruin, to destroy! Is there no such thing -as moral justice in this strangely constituted world? Public opinion. -Yes, yes. But what do men like Pretzel care for public opinion? Could -they not, if they pleased, buy up all the corn and the oil? If I had a -son, never, never should he become a money-lender! I would sooner see -him dead at my feet. "Look at my bond," says the money-lender; "ask my -debtor if he denies his signature." "Take what you demand," says the -judge. And helpless women and children stand by, wringing their hands -and weeping tears of blood. The money-lender sees not, hears not. He -takes what he demands, and when the Sabbath comes he kneels in church, -and prays and humbles himself. It is a cheap way of buying himself off. -Though if the truth were known, and if the workings of a man's soul -could be brought into view, the heart and the mind of the ruthless -schemer would be seen to be full of triumphant figures all the time his -lips are moving with meaningless prayer. - -Not that Pretzel ever went to church, or ever prayed, or ever knelt to -any God but Money. No, no: there was no mock humility about Pretzel. -He gloried in his deeds, and when ruin overtook those unfortunate ones -who had been drawn into his web, he would heap reproaches upon them for -their unworldliness and their want of prudence. It was they who were -the wrongers, not he. "See what you have done," he would say; "see what -you have brought upon your poor families!" Can a more fiendish taunt be -imagined? - -Of every person, with one single exception, with whom Pretzel had -dealings he got the advantage. That exception was myself. No one but -I, in all the town, who had borrowed money of him, could say, "I have -gained something from dealing with Pretzel." To hear that, and to be -compelled to acknowledge that it was true, cut him to the soul. You may -guess how he hated me. - -It happened in this way: Old Pretzel did not always wait for customers; -if they did not come to him he went to them; he made business, I have -heard him say. It was not always, "I beg, I implore of you, good -Pretzel, to lend me a hundred forms; it will save me from ruin. For -the sake of my wife and children do this good deed!" It was he who -sometimes said, "Why don't you borrow two hundred, three hundred, five -hundred florins of me? It will help you on. You can buy fresh stock -with it, and turn it twice over before I come to you for payment. You -will grow rich, instead of being poor all your life. I would not do -this for every one, but I take an interest in you. Think of it, for -the sake of your wife and children. Think well of it; the money is -ready for you, and it won't run away." He would cast his eyes upon a -tradesman who was getting along comfortably, and when he had calculated -how much he was worth, he would go to him and tempt him to borrow, -putting all sorts of baits in his way. And he did it so cleverly that -the victim could scarcely ever remember how the whole thing was done, -and how it happened that ruin suddenly fell upon him like a clap of -thunder. - -Pretzel came to me--it was in the first year of Gideon Wolf's -apprenticeship; that is how those two became acquainted, by Pretzel -visiting my shop. Pretzel's words, when they were uttered in the -presence of Gideon Wolf, fell upon a rich soil. Well, he came to me -many times, admired my workmanship, admired my stock--I believe he knew -to the smallest coin what it would fetch in the market--and would say, - -"You ought to have a fine plate-glass window to your shop. It would -draw custom. A fine plate-glass front, with glass shelves in it, and -your beautiful watches and chains all set out in blue velvet eases. How -they would glitter! It would make people's mouths water. Everybody in -the town would come to look, and a great many would be tempted to buy. -You would do three times the trade you are doing now. You would be able -to buy the newest-fashioned goods; you would grow rich." - -"But it would cost a great deal of money," I would answer, "to make -these alterations." - -"What does it matter," he would urge, "how much it would cost if you -got it back five times, ten times over?" - -"But I haven't any spare cash, Pretzel; all that I am worth lies in my -stock. True, I do not owe anything; what I have is all my own." - -"Really, Master Fink, you don't owe anybody anything--that is an -absolute fact, eh?" - -"It is an absolute fact, Pretzel." - -Then he would laugh slyly, and say, "An honorable, straightforward man -like you could easily borrow what he wants. Ah, how people would stare! -They would clap their hands, and say, 'What a wonderful man Master Fink -is--what a wonderful, wonderful man!' You would be looked up to, much -more than you are now, though you stand well. Yes, Master Fink, such is -the power of money that you would be made a magistrate." - -I thought, "Ah, if I were a magistrate, and you were brought before -me, I would make short work of you, Miser Pretzel." And I wondered to -myself why he was so anxious to lend money to me who had always spoken -of him as a villainous usurer. - -Day after day, week after week, he continued to pester me and try to -inflame my ambition with his cunning speech, until it entered my head -to set a trap for him. I told him, much as I should like to take his -advice, that it was not in my power, because, in an unlucky moment of -my life, I had vowed never to borrow money at interest. He opened his -eyes very wide at this I don't suppose he ever had such a thing said to -him before. He tried to reason me out of my vow, but I said it was of -no use, and that nothing should ever tempt me to break it. - -"Have you ever known me to forfeit my word?" I asked. "Is it likely, -then, that I should break a solemn oath? I admit that it was foolish, -that I am bound by it." - -He did not annoy me for a little while after this, but more than once -I saw him looking in at my shop-window, counting with his eyes the -watches and chains and trinkets therein displayed. Ha, ha! He was going -to walk straight into the trap. All this time I did not hold my tongue -concerning him I spoke of him freely to the neighbors as an abominable -usurer, hoping that what I said would reach his ears. Whether it did -or not he exhibited no ill-will towards me, but nodded and smiled in a -friendly way when we met. And one morning he entered my shop, and said, - -"Master Fink, I will do you a service against your will. I will compel -you to become a rich man you shall make great profits you shall rise -in the town we want men like you to take the direction of affairs. You -shall borrow of me the money needed for alterations and improvements, -and I will charge you no interest--only, of course, you shall sign a -bond to pay me on a stated day. That is but fair." - -"Indeed, indeed, I do not care for it," I said. - -"Am I not already sufficiently well off?" - -"No, you are not," he persisted. "I will do you this kindness, so that -people shall say, 'Pretzel is a good fellow; we have been mistaken in -him.' Oh, I know what some of them think of me!" - -"The devil is never so black as he is painted," I said, saucily. - -"Ah, Master Fink," he said, without a trace of displeasure in his face, -"you will have your joke, you will have your joke." - -"Yes," said I to myself, "and I intend to enjoy it, and profit by it." - -But although he urged and urged, I would not immediately do as he -wished; I drew him on, and within a week, so eager was he to have his -fingers in my pie, he had lent me three thousand florins for two years, -without interest. He plumped the money on my counter, and I signed -a bond, undertaking to repay it in hard coin on a certain date, and -giving Pretzel the power, in case it were not refunded to the minute, -to seize my goods and furniture, and sell me up stock and block. In the -bond Pretzel had inserted words to the effect that the money was to be -handed to him at exactly twelve o'clock in the morning by his own watch. - -"Mind," he said, with a little chuckling laugh, "if you are a minute -later than twelve o'clock by my watch I shall take possession of all -your goods." - -"Yes, yes," I said, "I understand. At twelve o'clock on that day -you shall receive the money you are kind enough to lend me without -interest." - -His evil eye never had a slyer, wickeder look in it than when he shook -hands with me and wished me good-luck and good-day, leaving his three -thousand florins behind him. With his money tied up in a bag I went -immediately to the State Bank and deposited it upon interest, and there -I let it remain, without Pretzel or any person outside the bank knowing -anything of the transaction. From time to time Pretzel looked in, and -asked when my plate glass and my new-fashioned goods were to arrive. I -put off his questions with an awkwardness which I intended he should -notice. He did notice it, and after some time had passed he said, - -"The new watches and chains are a long time coming; I am quite anxious -to see them. Remember, I lent you the money to purchase them with." - -"No," I said, and I pretended to be much confused, "you did not lend me -the money to purchase them with; you simply lent me the money. That is -stated in the bond, and it is not stated in what manner I should employ -what I borrowed of you. A good speculation offered itself to me, and I -have invested in it." - -"Master Fink," he said, severely, "it was understood, if the money was -spent, that it should be spent in purchasing new stock, so that you -might increase your trade." - -"I cannot deny it," I answered, "but it was only understood; it was not -written down." - -"You stand by the bond?" - -"To the letter." - -"That is well, as far as it goes; but a speculation carries risk with -it. How if yours should turn out bad?" - -I made a gesture of despair, clasped my hand to my forehead, and said, -dolefully, - -"I should be ruined! Yet, no; you are my friend; you would never take -my goods from me; you would give me time to repair my losses." - -His eyes travelled round my shop; there was a malicious expression in -his weazen face. - -"The devil is never so black as he is painted, is he, Master Fink?" he -said, with a wicked grin. - -Thereafter he would ask me, whenever he saw me, "And how is the famous -speculation getting on, eh?" - -"Don't ask me, don't ask me," I would sigh. "How fortunate for me that -I am in the hands of a man like yourself--in the hands of a friend! -Never have I beheld your money since the day on which you lent it to -me." - -Which was as true as anything I ever spoke in my life. His money did -not trouble me; it was safe enough in the State Bank. - -So the first year passed, and six months of the second, Pretzel never -ceasing to question me about my famous speculation, and I never ceasing -to express my despair. During the last few months he was in the habit -of coming to me with his watch in his hand, and saying, - -"Master Fink, I wish you to regulate my watch." - -And I regulated it for him, on an average, once in every week. - -On the day before the money was to be repaid I went to the bank, and -drew it out in hard coin, and received, also, the interest--with which -interest I purchased, as I had previously determined, the handsome -lever-watch I have ever since worn, and the handsome gold chain you see -round my neck. - -The morning arrived. I had a friend to breakfast with me, who was -to witness what was about to take place. Suspecting some trick, and -wishing to be prepared for it, I had arranged that this friend was to -come to me at seven o'clock in the morning, and to stay till the affair -was over. I expected that Pretzel would present himself at about a -quarter to twelve, but to my astonishment he entered my shop as half a -dozen clocks on my shelves chimed a quarter to ten. He was accompanied -by a lawyer. - -"Good-morning, Master Fink," he said. - -"Good-morning," I said. - -Heavens! How cunning and sharp and sly and malicious was his look! - -"You know what to-day is?" he asked. - -"Yes," I replied, "it is Wednesday." - -"Right; it is Wednesday; and the date, Master Fink, the date is that on -which you are to repay me my three thousand florins." - -"Ah," I cried, "it is true, it is true! How could it have escaped me?" - -"That is not my affair. This is my lawyer, Master Fink!" - -I bowed to the lawyer, and said to Pretzel, - -"You will renew the bond, will you not? You will let the money remain -with me for another two years, at the same rate of interest?" - -"What!" he cried; "are you mad, or do you think I am?" - -"No," I said, in a rueful tone, "I am not mad, but you see the state I -am in. Unfortunate--unfortunate that I am!" - -"That is always the way," he said, appealing to his lawyer--"that is -always the way." Then to me, "Is not my demand just?" - -"Quite just; but you will continue to be my friend--you will not ruin -me!" - -He laughed in my face. "Master Fink," he said, "attend, to me. Years -before I lent you this money you were in the habit of reviling me and -speaking against me. You libelled and scandalized me; you held me up in -the blackest light. You were never tired of calling me a villainous old -usurer." - -"It is true," I groaned, "but I have lived to see my error. You are -upright, you are just, you are liberal." - -"I lent you my money," he continued, "without interest, to prove to -you and to everybody that when you spoke in that way against me you -were speaking lies, and that really I am a benevolent man." There was -something absolutely diabolical in his voice as he uttered these words. -"And even then, when I gave you the money, to my own loss--for how -much more profitably it could have been employed!--you threw into my -teeth the taunt that the devil is never so black as he is painted." (I -groaned again.) "If you have been improvident that is your affair. If -you have squandered my money and lost it recklessly, you will be spoken -of as a knave, and you will forfeit the honorable name you have been -so proud of." (I gave two long distinct groans.) "I have come now for -my money, and if you are not prepared to pay me three thousand honest -florins, I will strip your house and your shop of every article they -contain." - -"No, no, Pretzel," I moaned, "you do not mean it!" - -"I do mean it! You shall not have a bed to lie upon, nor a spoon to eat -with. You will be a beggar, a rogue, a cheat! Ask this lawyer whether I -am standing on my rights." - -I looked at the lawyer. - -"By the bond you have signed," he said, "which Pretzel holds in his -hands, if you do not pay him three thousand florins he is entitled to -carry away everything movable within these walls." - -"And I will do it!" screamed Pretzel, working himself up into a state -of frantic exultation; "I will do it! I can see that you have not -got the money--that you are not prepared to pay it--that you have -squandered it like a thief! You shall suffer for calling me a villainous -old usurer; you shall suffer for saying that I am not so black as I am -painted! Do you see those vans at the door? They are mine--they are -mine--and I'll strip the place to the bare walls, you honest, honorable -man!" - -Sure enough, there at my door stood two large, strong vans, and I -strove to squeeze out a few tears at my impending ruin as Pretzel -pointed to them and flourished the bond in my face. - -"Are you quite determined to show me no mercy?" I asked, with a -succession of such heavy sighs that I thought to myself if I had not -been a watch-maker I might have been a fine actor. - -"Hear him!" he cried; "he implores mercy from a villainous old usurer! -Why, he must be a fool as well as a rogue!" - -"Well, then," I said, and I threw myself, quite heart-broken, into a -chair, "come at twelve o'clock, when the money is due, and in the mean -time I will see if I can get my friends to help me." - -"It is twelve o'clock now," said Pretzel. - -"Nay," I replied, looking round at my clocks, which were ticking -merrily away, "it wants exactly two hours to noon. The correct time is -five minutes to ten." - -"By my watch," said Pretzel, pulling it out of his pocket, "it is -exactly five minutes to twelve." - -I looked at his watch; the hands pointed to five minutes to twelve; -there was no disputing it. - -"Your watch is wrong," I said; "it is two hours fast." - -"I say nothing to that," said Pretzel, eagerly watching the second -hands, "you yourself have regulated it for several months past." - -"Twenty-two times I have regulated it," I said, "and yesterday it was -in perfect order." - -"One minute gone," said Pretzel; "four minutes to twelve. I demand my -money, my three thousand florins!" - -"Your watch is two hours fast; how it came so Heaven only knows. You -cannot demand your money till twelve o'clock by the right time." - -"You are wrong. The bond says twelve o'clock by my watch. It does not -stipulate that my watch shall keep right time. Read the words for -yourself. You stand by the bond, you know, to the letter--the exact -words you spoke to me. Another minute gone; three minutes to twelve. I -demand my money, my three thousand florins!" - -"But, Pretzel," I implored, "you cannot mean it. You will surely not -cast me into the streets--you will not make a beggar of me!" - -"Oh no," he cried, "I will not make a beggar of you--I will not cast -you into the streets! I have so much reason to love you, have I not? As -for your ruin, you have brought it on yourself. This is your signature, -not mine. It is your honesty that is at stake, not mine. The villainous -old usurer, the devil that is not so black as he is painted, wants only -his rights--nothing more. Two minutes to twelve; another minute gone. I -demand my money, my three thousand florins!" - -"Bring me writing materials," I said to my friend, in a despairing -tone, "and I will write Miser Pretzel an order on the bank for three -thousand florins." - -"I will accept no order on the bank," said, Pretzel, "for two reasons. -One is, because I should find it was not worth the paper it was written -on; and the other, because it is stated in the bond that the money is -to be repaid to me in hard coin." - -"You insist upon it, Pretzel?" - -"Yes, I insist upon it. Another minute gone; one minute to twelve." - -I tapped him gently on his breast, within which I verily believe beat -the cunningest heart that mortal was ever cursed with; I made him a low -bow I smiled benignly; and saying, "What must be, must be," I took from -a drawer the bag with the three thousand florins in it, and put it into -his bands. - -"There is your money," I said, "the exact sum, in hard coin, which I -drew from the State Bank yesterday. Give me my bond, that I may cancel -it." - -He turned white, then yellow, then green; he trembled with rage; he -gasped for breath. - -"You forced your money upon me," I said, "as you have forced it upon -others. You would have ruined me, as you have ruined others. I have -made you pay for it. Out of a spirit of revenge you laid a snare for -me, and thought to entangle me in it; and now you find yourself caught -in your own trap. Instead of biting, you are bit. I put your money into -the State Bank, at fair interest; I knew it was quite safe there. I -never touched it, never used a florin of it, and with the interest I -received yesterday I bought this handsome chain and this handsome lever -watch, which I shall wear as long as I live, to remind me always that -honesty is the best policy. Never, never shall it be set two hours fast -or two hours slow to entrap the innocent and unsuspecting. Count the -money, Pretzel, count the money; you will find it right to a florin; -and you can carry it away in those beautiful strong vans you have gone -to the expense of hiring for my benefit." - -Shaking as if he had an ague, Pretzel counted the money and flung the -bond at my feet. - -"You do not require me any longer," said the lawyer to him, with an -ill-concealed smile. I saw that he enjoyed the joke, and that very soon -the whole town would be laughing at the capital trick Master Fink had -played upon Miser Pretzel. - -"Wait a moment, please," I said to the lawyer; "it is not yet quite -finished. In your presence I present Pretzel the money-lender with a -small account he owes me, and I request immediate payment of the same. - -"Account!" snarled Pretzel; "I owe you nothing." - -"Pardon me. Here is the account, with the items fairly and properly set -down. Twenty-two times have I regulated your watch for you, at your -own request. Why you wanted it so often examined and set in order when -nothing was the matter with it was your affair, not mine; I sit at my -counter to attend to my customers. I charge you one florin a time--in -all, twenty-two florins." - -"You are an extortionist," he said; and if he could have scorched me to -death with his evil eye it would have afforded him, I have no doubt, -the greatest satisfaction; "I shall not pay you a florin of this false -account." - -"It is a faithful account," I said, "and if it is not paid before -twelve o'clock to-morrow--by my watch, not yours--I shall have you -summoned in the Public Court. You may take my word that I mean what I -say. Good-morning." - -"Master Fink," he said, with the look of a snake, "one day I may be -even with you." - -"Till then," I said, "farewell." - -From that hour we had never exchanged a single word. He prospered, and -was feared and hated, and well did I know that if the opportunity ever -offered itself he would deal me a deadly blow. - -And this was the man with whom Gideon Wolf was consorting. Nothing -but evil could come of such a friendship. But it was of no use my -interfering between those two rascals; I should have been laughed to -scorn by the pair of them. - -It was otherwise with Katrine Loebeg. I had been kind to her; when -she was a little one I had walked in the fields with her, and we had -been merry together. I could speak to her as a father would to his -child; I could warn her; I could enlighten her as to Gideon Wolf's time -character. Ah! I did not think of the glamour which love sheds over the -eyes of the young--not only over the eyes, over the reason, over the -judgment. Had I reflected a little, had I recalled the memory of the -past, when I myself was in love, I might have taken a different view. - -I met Katrine the very next evening in the public street. I spoke to -her, cautiously and tenderly. She was a timid, confiding girl, with a -gentle voice, but the moment I ventured to say one word against Gideon -Wolf she turned upon me like a fury. I never supposed her capable of -such spirit. It was the passion of a mother defending her young. Ah, -woman, woman! So weak, so strong, so fierce, so tender! It puts me -out of patience to think of it. A bundle of sticks, some inflexible -as steel bars, some supple as blades of grass--that well represents -the qualities of her nature. What can be said of a man who, with some -knowledge of the world, deliberately uses these astonishing, these -beautiful contrasts to his own base ends? I have my own opinion on such -matters. Perhaps I am old-fashioned. If so, thank God for old fashions! -May they never entirely die out! - -"What do you mean," cried Katrine, "first Anna, then you, by coming to -me, and speaking against Gideon?" - -"Anna has spoken to you, then," I said. - -"Yes, she has," said Katrine, "and said such things of Gideon as she -ought to be ashamed of. She deserves to be punished for it, and so I -told her. I am not good enough for him, not half good enough. Is he not -already sufficiently persecuted, sufficiently unfortunate? But if all -the world rose against him, I would stand by his side, if he would let -me, and die for him! Yes, gladly would I die for him!" - -Fool that I was! Not to know that if you want to increase a woman's -love for a man, all you have to do is to speak to her against him! I -soon discovered my error, and was compelled to confess to myself that -I had done Gideon Wolf a good turn in his suit with Katrine Loebeg. -So may a man himself, by an act which he has not well considered, -frustrate his own good intentions. - -What thrilled me through and through was to see Pretzel the Miser, who -had been secretly watching us, go to Katrine when I left her, and walk -side by side with her in confidential converse. There came to my mind -the picture of Eve and the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. - -Well, the best service we could now render to Katrine was to hold our -peace. Heaven knows, things were bad enough; to have set the whole town -talking would have made them worse. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -GIDEON WOLF PROPOSES TO ADOPT MASTER FINK AS HIS FATHER. - - -On Saturdays, unless there were repairs to be executed which were -urgently required to be done, there was no work in my shop after three -o'clock. During the afternoon I generally made up my accounts and -balanced my books for the week--a task which afforded me satisfaction, -for it was seldom I did not find myself a trifle richer at the end -of the week than I had been at the beginning. A business is a real -pleasure to a man when that is the case. - -Gideon Wolf, the moment the hour began to strike, would lay down his -tools as though they were red-hot, jump from his seat, whisk off his -apron, and be out of the shop before the clock had done striking. -You can always tell a good and cheerful workman by the manner of his -proceedings when the clock proclaims that his day's toil is at an end. - -While I was at my accounts, Gideon would be enjoying himself somewhere -after his own fashion, and I would see nothing more of him till -supper-time. He was frequently late at his work in the morning, but he -was the soul of punctuality at his meals. I will say that of him. - -On the Saturday after I had spoken to Katrine with such ill effect, I -was casting up my books as usual, and coming to Gideon Wolf's account -found him indebted to me to the tune of one hundred and eighty florins. -"He will never pay me," I thought. "The debt is not even doubtful; it -is bad. Well, it is a good thing I can afford to lose the money." Just -at that moment Gideon himself entered and stood before me. "Something -is in the wind," thought I. "If he comes to borrow more money he may -save himself the trouble of asking. I do not give him another florin." -And I went on with my adding-up. - -"Master Fink," said Gideon, "I wish to speak to you." - -"Yes, Gideon, yes," I said, drawing a double line with my ruler, a -thick one and a thin one; I kept my books very neatly, and often turned -over the leaves with pride. "What have you to say?" - -"I am not getting along well, Master Fink." - -"That is plain," I said, with my eyes on his account. - -"I might go on like this for fifty years," he continued, "and I should -be no better off then than I am now." - -"It really appears so," I said; "and to be honest with you, Gideon, if -all the people I had dealings with resembled you, I should myself be no -better off." - -I said this quite calmly and dispassionately. It is hurtful to a man to -be forever angry about things he cannot alter for the better, be he on -the right or the wrong side with respect to them. - -"I have served you faithfully, Master Fink. As apprentice and workman I -have worked for you for more than ten years." - -"Yes," said I, "it is more than ten years since you first entered -my shop." And there rose before me the vision of his mother, my old -sweetheart, as she appeared to me ten years ago, to beg me to take her -son as my apprentice and make an upright man of him. Conscientiously -had I endeavored to do my duty by him, to guide him in the straight -path, to make him truthful, industrious, honest, and brave. As well -might I have striven to alter the nature of a fox, and to instil into -the heart of that treacherous animal noble and faithful qualities. -Sadly did I confess that his mother's cherished dreams of the future -could never be realized, and that she would one day awake to the bitter -reality. - -"Master Fink," said Gideon, "the years I have worked for you have been -wasted. I stand here to-day without a florin, compelled to do without -many things I desire to possess." - -"It is a common calamity," I remarked "all men suffer from it." - -"We are sent into the world," said Gideon, gloomily, "with a common -right, the poor as well as the rich, to enjoy what there is in it." - -"Ah, ah," thought I, "is this young man a member of one of those -secret societies I have read of, whose aim it is to root up the very -foundations of society?" And I said aloud, "Yes, to enjoy what belongs -to us, what we have worked for and honestly earned. Proceed, and leave -politics out of the question. You say that the ten years you have -worked for me have been as good as wasted. Have you not learned a -trade?" - -"My pockets are empty," he retorted. "Suppose that I wished to settle -in life--" He paused suddenly. - -I took up his words according to my understanding of them. "All, then, -is arranged between you and Katrine Loebeg." - -"What do you know about her?" he cried, with a dark flush in his face. -"Why do you mix up our names?" - -The rascal! I could have knocked his head against the wall! - -"Be careful, Gideon, be careful," I said, half warningly, half -threateningly "more is known about you and Katrine Loebeg than you seem -to be aware of. People are not blind." - -He bit his lips. "What there is between Katrine and me is our business, -and concerns no one but ourselves." - -"You are in error. Katrine was born in this town, and she is an orphan. -She is regarded with eyes of affection by many, and I could name worthy -parents who would gladly receive her as a child of their own. See that -you deal honestly by her. You did not finish what you were about to -say. Suppose you wished to settle in life--" - -"How should I be able to do so? If I set up for myself as a watch-maker -in this place, either you or I would have to put up our shutters. There -is not room enough for two." - -"The world is wide, Gideon." - -"But if I wish to stop here?" - -"Stop here, in Heaven's name! Who prevents you?" - -"I did not expect you would mock me, Master Fink," and from biting -his lips he took to biting his nails. "I have a proposition to make -to you. Having worked for you so long it is natural I should look -for some advancement. I will work for you for two more years at the -present rate, and at the expiration of that time you shall admit me as -a partner in your business. You have no son to take care of you in your -old age. I will be your son; I will take care of you. Then all will be -well with us." - -"The murder is out," I thought. "Now I will see how far he will go." - -"In plain words, Gideon," I said, "you propose to adopt me as your -father. How can I thank you for your generous proposal! Of course it -would have to be a settled agreement between us." - -"Of course," he said, eagerly. - -I remained silent for a little while, with my head resting on my hand, -and I saw, without looking up, that his eyes never left my face. "The -villain!" I thought. "He thinks the hook is already in my gills. I will -remain silent just long enough to make him believe he has me safe. A -fine idea, truly, to take this envious, idle knave as my partner. In -three years I should find myself penniless, without a roof to my head. -If it were not for his mother, whom I once loved, I would bid him -pack off without another word. I am to allow him to adopt me as his -father, am I? I am to put myself into his charge, for all the world as -though I needed a keeper! A lunatic, indeed, I should prove myself to -be by so doing. He must think that mankind were made for him to prey -upon. Do I not put up with his blunders and bad workmanship--ay, and -with something worse which I have never given utterance to? Because I -am silent on the matter, he does not suspect that I know him to be a -thief, and that I could send him to prison for what he has done. But -for his mother's sake I will spare him. I will not bring shame and -disgrace upon the gray hairs of the woman who brought into my life its -most beautiful dreams, and who made the mistake of choosing a vagabond -instead of me. She has suffered enough, and my hand shall not be raised -against her. Ah, you gambler and schemer, Gideon Wolf, I could find it -in my heart to strike you where you stand!" - -Thus I thought and mused, while Gideon stood before me, reckoning up -the chickens I had hatched, and calculating how many gold-pieces they -would sell for. - -"Gideon Wolf," I said, in as gentle a tone as I could command, "your -proposal springs from a heart beating with consideration for your old -master. It displays your nature in a beautiful light. But have you -fully considered the sacrifice you propose to make; have you debated -the subject with yourself in a calm and serious spirit; are you quite -prepared to waste two of your most valuable years in my service, before -you can hope to reap the reward to which you believe yourself entitled?" - -"I have fully considered," he said, with gracious arrogance; "I am -quite prepared." - -"There are so many things," I said, laughing inwardly, "that may have -escaped one of less experience than yourself. In human life so many -unforeseen circumstances occur! I am hale and hearty and strong; yet -unexpectedly the angel of death may call me to my account." - -He held his hand before his eyes, which were as dry as a stone. - -"Do not speak of such a calamity," he said, in a broken voice; "it cuts -me to the heart. But even then you could provide for me. You are alone -in the world; you have no family to whom you would care to leave your -possessions." - -"And I might leave them to you!" I cried, in the tone of a man -upon whom a blessed inspiration had fallen. "I might make a will, -constituting you my heir! True, true that would be the best way--by far -the best way." - -His face glowed with exultation. "You are too good, my master," he -said, drawing his breath quickly. "You think of everything. It would -never have occurred to me." - -"How could such a thing be possible?" I cried, in assumed indignation -at the injustice he was doing himself. "You are the last person who -would calculate upon gaining anything by my death. But still consider, -Gideon, what you might be throwing away by tying yourself to me. You -have seen but little of the world, and you do not know how many lonely -rich men there are who would gladly throw themselves into your arms if -you made them understand what you are ready to sacrifice for them." - -Certainly this young man was fool as well as rogue, for he accepted -every word I spoke as the utterance of sincerity. - -"Why waste more time?" he asked, with a complacent glance at that -portion of my stock which was displayed to attract customers--among -which were six fine fat gold lever watches, eighteen-carat hunters; six -others, open-faced; four lady's dainty toys, with enamelled cases, set -with diamonds a couple of dozen silver watches, with perfect movements -and one marvel of workmanship, which told not only the time but the day -of the year, the name and date of the month, and the changes of the -moon. Then there was a fine collection of trinkets, chains, and rings, -brooches, and the like, all paid for with the labor of my hands. And -Gideon Wolf was standing beneath the fruitful vines, with his mouth -wide open, waiting for the grapes to fall into it. But he was not the -only fox in the world who met with disappointment. "Why waste more -time?" he asked. "I am a man to be trusted, and what I mean I say. -After all the years I have passed in your house, it would be black -ingratitude in me to desert you in your old age." - -"Am I so very old, Gideon?" I murmured. - -"You are not young, Master Fink." - -"But I feel sometimes as if I still had a little strength left in me; I -do indeed, Gideon." - -"The strongest are cut down when they least expect it," he said, -showing me the whites of his eyes. - -"There is Anna," I said; "she has been with me a long time, and her -heart is full of kindness towards me. She would take care of me." - -"Of what use are women?" exclaimed Gideon, scornfully. "They are mere -playthings." - -I sighed, "Alas, for poor Katrine!" and then said, "You have no cause -of complaint against me, Gideon. You have been well and justly treated -in my house. You acknowledge it?" - -"Yes, Master Fink, I acknowledge it." - -"You do not, I am sure, harbor any uncharitableness towards your old -master." - -"I should despise myself if I did." - -"Fair wages all the time you were my apprentice, Gideon. This home is -not to be despised. It is not a palace, it is true, but it is better -than many palaces. The rain does not come through the roof and your -bed--it is a comfortable bed, Gideon?" - -"Yes, it is a comfortable bed." - -"Then Anna is a good cook--one in a thousand. You have always had -plenty to eat." - -"I have nothing to complain of, Master Fink, nothing whatever. You have -been a good and kind master, and I am going to show my gratitude. It is -a bargain--you consent to my proposition. We commence from this day." - -"Nay," I said, deeming it time to end the comedy; "it takes two to make -a bargain;" and I rose and made him a low bow, just the kind of bow I -made to Pretzel the Miser a good many years before, when he came into -my shop, ready to strip me of every stick I possessed. "I will never -consent to the sacrifice; it would be a reproach to me all my life. No, -Gideon, I will not be adopted as your father; I will bear my burden -alone. You shall grow rich in an easier way; you will find it, I make -no doubt, for you are a sharp customer. Perhaps Miser Pretzel will make -you his heir." Gideon's face, at the mention of Pretzel's name, was as -white as milk, and I was confirmed in a suspicion which had crossed my -mind, that Pretzel had a hand in counselling him to the end he wished -to gain. "He is rolling in money--and so very, very generous! He once -tried to do me a good turn. Or perhaps the invisible gentleman you play -cards with in the middle of the night may, some time or other, lose a -large sum of money to you, and bring it to you in a number of sacks. -How wonderful that would be, would it not? So let what has been spoken -between us be forgotten, as though it had never happened. And when you -are rich," I said, closing the book in which his account was entered, -and giving it a little tap, "and riding in your carriage, you shall -pay me what you owe me, and get out of my debt. I hope you will give -me your custom, as a slight return for the just treatment you have -received in my house." - -His face was dreadful to look at. Rage, terror, venom, in their most -baleful aspects, were expressed in the play of his features. Had I been -a weak old fellow I think he would not have restrained the impulse to -put his fingers round my throat but he was aware of my strength, and we -were both spared unpleasant consequences. - -"So," he said, slowly, "you have been playing with me; you have been -mocking me; you have been acting the part of spy and eavesdropper. -You treat me as you would treat a dog that you can kick about at your -pleasure. Because you are rich and I am poor, you think you have the -right to crush me under your feet. Oh, if I had the power!--" - -And he ground his teeth, and left me without another word. - -It was a hard punishment I had dealt out to him, but he deserved it. He -was a rascal from the hairs of his head to the soles of his feet. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -MASTER FINK RESOLVES TO UNDERTAKE A JOURNEY. - - -All that night Gideon Wolf occupied my mind. I thought of him and -dreamed of him, and when I rose in the morning it seemed to me that -I had a duty to perform which it would be a sin to neglect. Anna was -very much astonished when I told her after breakfast, Gideon not being -present, that I was going a journey on the following day, and should be -absent for a week. - -"How will you be able to live away from home?" she exclaimed. "You have -never slept a night out of the house all the years I have been with -you." - -"A proof," said I, "that I deserve a holiday." - -"Who will air your sheets for you? Who will cook your meals? You will -come back as thin as the leg of a fly." - -"I shall enjoy your cooking all the more when it is placed before me -again. Do not fear, Anna--I shall be able to manage. It is not pleasure -that calls me away; it is duty. I shall take only my knapsack with me, -and I shall leave the place in your charge." - -"It will be taken good care of," she said wiping her eyes; the foolish -creature had been actually shedding tears at the thought of my leaving -her for a short time; "only I will not have Gideon Wolf in the house -while you are absent. I will not cook a meal for him--no, Master Fink, -not for all the money you can offer me; and I will not sleep in the -house alone with him." - -"Then," I said, by no means displeased at the opportunity she offered -me, "I shall tell Gideon that he must get lodgings elsewhere. It may -be, Anna, that he will not remain with us much longer." - -"I shall dance for joy," she said, nodding her head a great many times, -"when he goes for good. It is not for good that he stays." - -If Anna was surprised at my resolution, Gideon Wolf was filled with -consternation upon my telling him that there would be no business done -in the shop for a week. - -"What is to become of me?" he cried. - -"I really cannot tell you," I replied. "It must be quite plain to you -that there is not much love lost between us. Our conversation yesterday -was not the pleasantest in the world, and you left me in a very -insolent manner. You said things which I shall not easily forget. You -are a man, and you must shift for yourself in the best way you can. I -do not presume to dictate to you, or to offer you advice." - -"Master Fink," he said, cringing, "I am sorry for the words I spoke -when I left you yesterday. I will beg your pardon if you wish me to." - -"I do not wish it. Yon are humble now because you are frightened. It -may be, Gideon, when I return from my journey, that I may still be -disposed to act as your friend; I tell you honestly that it depends -upon circumstances and what happens to me during the time I am away." - -"Where are you going?" he asked, with a look of keen curiosity. - -"I shall not tell you; I am my own master, and my movements are free. -It remains for me to inform you that you cannot remain in this house -during my absence." - -"What! You turn me out-of-doors!" - -"It can scarcely be regarded in that light," I said; "you will not -be in want of a bed. Anna will be the master here, and she will not -have you near her. You have managed to offend her in some way, and she -declares she will not cook a meal for you for all the money I could -offer her." - -"She is a cat!" snarled Gideon. - -"Well, at all events she has a set of long, sharp nails, and I should -advise you to be civil to her. You remember what I told you yesterday -about the invisible gentleman you play cards with in the middle of the -night. Anna has got scent of it, and she vows she will not sleep in the -house with you and that--that strange friend of yours, unless she has a -man to protect her. You see, Gideon, there is no help for it." - -"I have no money to pay for lodgings elsewhere," he said. "Are you -going to leave me to starve?" - -"No; here are two watches to clean and regulate; let them be in -first-rate going order at the end of the week, and I will pay you more -than your food and lodging will cost you. As for starving at any time, -are you not an able-bodied man, with a strong pair of hands, and a good -trade at your fingers' ends? No man who is willing to work need starve -in this town." - -The watches I gave him to repair were of little value, and I could -easily have replaced them in case they were not returned to me, so the -next morning, which was Monday, I affixed to my shutters a notice that -I was called away on important business, and should be absent for a -week. Then I shook hands with my old Anna, who arranged my knapsack -for me, and bade her good-bye. She was much affected. Had I been her -husband or her son she could not have exhibited a deeper concern at -my departure; her tenderness touched me to the heart. Something else -worked also upon my feelings. There was an appetizing fragrance in my -knapsack proceeding from some delicacy which Anna had cooked for me; I -could not help smelling it, although my nose was in the middle of my -face, and not at the back of my head. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -RELATES WHAT KIND OF HARVEST MASTER FINK GATHERED IN THE COURSE OF HIS -JOURNEY. - - -The duty I had set myself to perform was to speak to Gideon Wolf's -mother concerning his doings. I would tell her, gently and kindly, -that he needed counsel from some one to whom he would listen with -respect. Who was better able to enforce this advice than the mother -who had nursed him at her breast? She should learn all about Pretzel -the Miser's character, and how that association with a wretch so vile -could be productive of nothing but evil. I would speak to her also -about Katrine Loebeg, and beg her to save that innocent young girl -from shame. Moreover, I was prepared to advance her a small sum of -money, with which her son could set up business in another town, at -some distance from me, where there was no watch-maker, and where one -could do a fair trade. I would lend the money to her, not to Gideon. If -she repaid me, well if not, well. It would not ruin me. With industry, -and with his mother living with him to attend to his wants and do the -household work, he might in time get better thoughts in his head, and -become a respectable member of society. This would I do for my old -sweetheart's sake. - -The direction, therefore, I took was towards the village in which I had -passed my youthful days and dreamed my youthful dreams, the village of -which Louisa was once the pride and the beauty, and in which she still -lived, a broken-down woman, old before her time, on whom the years had -pressed with a bitter hand. One friend and another came out of their -shops and houses to shake hands with me and ask questions about my -journey, for the knapsack on my shoulders excited their curiosity. They -all had kind and neighborly words for me, and nodded and smiled when -I told them I was going to take a holiday and do a little business at -the same time. Never till that day did I know how much I was respected -by my neighbors, and how sincere was the affection they entertained -for me. These feelings were mutual. There are memorials which grow in -silence and stillness, of the growth of which we are almost unconscious -until some action of ours out of the ordinary groove brings them into -view and then there is suddenly revealed to us a full-bearing tree of -love or hate. One good woman insisted upon my stopping at her door. -Running to the rear of her house and running quickly back again, she -brought me a beautiful white rose, which she stuck in my coat. - -"Going a-courting, I do believe," she said, with a merry smile. - -"I am past that long ago," I replied. - -"No, indeed," she said "if you cared to ask, you would not be single at -the end of the year." - -"Well, then," I said to her little girl, about six years old, who was -clinging to her gown, "will you marry me, little maid?" The child hid -her face in her mother's dress, and blushed as if she had been fifteen. -"There now," I said, "what did I tell you?" - -I stooped and kissed the little maid, and she gave me two kisses for my -one. - -"If that answer doesn't satisfy you," said the gay-hearted mother, "you -are hard to please. Mind! I shall keep you to it!" - -So we parted, blithely. - -Pleasant bits these to meet with by the waysides. And the best of it -is, even the humblest and poorest may earn them if they are so minded. - -The knapsack on my shoulders was the same which had accompanied me on -my youthful travels, and though I had not worn it since that time, it -felt like an old friend to me. I had determined to walk the best part -of the way, out of a sentimental desire to renew acquaintance with -scenes I had not set eyes on for five and twenty years. I knew that I -should be overtaken on the road by carts and wagons on which I could -get a lift when I was tired. - -There are others besides myself who, in their middle or old age, have -started upon such an excursion, and who have retraced, as it were, the -roads of life with feelings of pensive sadness and wonder at the change -that has come over them. I have read of countries in which people live -at such a rapid rate that everything in them is constantly changing its -condition; where in a year the roads are so altered that you cannot -recognize them as the same over which you travelled but yesterday; -where dwellings are being continually pulled down and built up again; -where villages grow into towns, and towns into cities, with magical -swiftness; where farm-houses disappear, to make room for mansions; and -where the people, young and old, are afflicted with such a restlessness -in the soles of their feet that they keep running from this spot to -that, and from that to this, in their eager haste to acquire land and -money and houses. It is not so with us, and despite the grand talk -about the march of progress and the advance of civilization, I do not -believe we are any the worse off for it. We move slowly along, and -there are not many who desert their native place in their youth, and -pass their manhood in a distant spot. True, I had done so, but there -was a heart-reason for it. I have no doubt, if Louisa had chosen me -for her mate, I should have been in the old village at this moment, -surrounded by my children. In the countries of which I speak wanderers -like myself are deprived of a sad and sweet pleasure, such as stole -into my heart as I passed and recognized old familiar scenes made dear -to me by the years which had passed since they and I last greeted -each other. For, indeed, it was not only I who greeted them, it was -they, also, that greeted me. The trees, the woods, the farm-houses, -the vineyards, the wayside inns, the scores of familiar landmarks -which met my eyes, all seemed to say, "Ah, old fellow, here you are -once more. We have often wondered what had become of you. Where have -you been hiding yourself all this long while? We are glad to see you -alive and well. Welcome--welcome!" Yes, it is true, they all welcomed -me, and were rejoiced to see me, and I waved my hands and smiled at -them, in response to the spiritual greeting which brought gladness and -sadness to my soul. A sweet spirit of repose pervaded my being, and -even in my sadness there was no unhappiness. Here was an old windmill, -within view of the moving sails of which I had rested five-and-twenty -years ago, thinking of Louisa Wagner; here the great stone, embedded -in the earth and covered with moss, upon which I sat. The sails were -revolving now, and the sight brought back to me the very thoughts which -agitated me then. Ah, how I suffered, how I suffered! "Take with you -all my hopes," thus did I muse at that long distant time--"take with -you all my hopes, and grind them into dust." And now, as I sat upon the -ancient, moss-covered stone, the heart's storm was hushed, the tempest -of the soul was stilled. I breathed a prayer, and was grateful. That -is the most beautiful time of a man's life, when he feels at peace -with himself and the world. So might an aged father, after a long and -varied life, gaze upon his old wife and beautiful children, and say, -"Thank God!" Everything I saw contributed to my enjoyment. The orchards -in which the plums were ripening and the apples blushing like young -maids, the fir-trees bending solemnly above me in the heights, the -hedges, the hay-ricks, the cattle drinking in the lowlands, the ponds -in which the ducks were swimming, the fowls scratching at the earth, -the brooks, the streams, the pigeons flying to their steepled houses, -the very children who looked at me as I passed--all were the same as I -had seen in my younger days. They had not grown an hour older, not an -hour. There came a troop of youngsters on their way home from school, -caps and frocks and boots and books, all the same. They followed me, -singing an evening song, and I rewarded them and made them happy. A cow -stood with her head over a fence, and gazed at me with mild, serious -eyes. Two young colts, running towards me with side-twistings of their -bodies, suddenly stopped, transfixed. And there was the inn at which I -had rested for the night, and the wife of the innkeeper, with a baby -in her arms. All the same--all the same--young and sweet and beautiful -as in the days gone by. Ah, what a pleasure to me was that journey, -and what reflections passed through my mind as I thought of the more -pregnant journey I had taken on the roads of life since I had torn -myself from my native village! It is good occasionally to give one's -self up to these thoughts. At such times the trouble and vexation of -our days sink into insignificance, and are of less importance than the -bird which flies in the air, than the leaf which flutters in the wind. -At such times we learn the truest lessons. - -It was soon over, that excursion of fifty miles, as all things are and -shall be, for time is but a breath; and on the morning of the third day -I entered the village in which I was born. - -I made my way at once to the cottage in which Louisa had resided with -her parents. It was inhabited by strangers. Upon inquiry I learned -that she lived in a hut on the farther outskirts of the village. I -recognized no one; no one recognized me. I went to my old cottage, the -cottage in which my father and grandfather and great-grandfather had -lived, and in which I had soled and heeled Louisa's boots. It was now -a little shop in which sweetmeats and children's toys and cakes were -sold. I asked the woman to allow me to go through the rooms, and told -her I was born there. - -"Then you must be Gustave Fink," she said. - -"Yes," I answered, "I am Gustave Fink." - -It was supposed, I discovered, that I had made a great fortune, and -that I was rich enough to buy up the entire village. This impression -was confirmed by my purchasing, at a cost of less than half-a-florin, -toys and cakes for all the children who were looking at the treasures -in the window. But it seemed to me, after the first greeting, that the -woman gazed on me with displeasure, as on a man who had committed some -grievous wrong. I dismissed the fancy. What earthly grounds could there -have been for such a feeling? - -From my old house I went to the church, and lived over again the -Sabbath morning walk I had taken with Louisa, in her new cotton dress -and the bit of new ribbon at her throat. I read the inscriptions on -the tombstones, and was strangely affected. Many whom I had known had -passed away years ago. All these years at peace, with the grass and -the wild-flowers growing over them, while all around the hearts of men -and women were still throbbing with wild desires, with unsatisfied -yearnings, with longings and temptations. Ah, what a lesson, what a -lesson! Wait but till to-morrow, when death's icy hand shall stop the -beating of the pulses, when the great king, Dust, shall claim them for -his own! How blind, how blind! If men would but kneel and sincerely -pray, and hold out the kindly hand to their fellows! If they would but -learn the lesson aright! - -The simplest flower teaches it. Behold me, radiant, blooming, -bright-eyed, perfect in outward form and in every hidden vein. It is -the summer, and warm breezes kiss me, and the life-giving sun shines -upon me, and I live--I live--I live! It is the winter, and I am dead. -Seek me in vain I am crumbling into dust. - -But the seed remains. - -So shall the seeds of good deeds remain, and blossom into flower. - -The church door was open. I entered, and knelt and prayed. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -MASTER FINK HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH THE WOMAN HE LOVED. - - -An hour past noon I stood before Louisa Wolf's hovel. It was nothing -more; it would have been mockery to call it a cottage. - -I looked in at the window it was almost bare of furniture, and I -recognized that whoever inhabited it must have a hard fight to keep -body and soul together. And in the room was an old, old woman--none -other than Louisa Wolf. - -She was but forty-five, but she looked seventy when she opened the door -to my knock. - -She fell back when she saw me, as though she had received a mortal -wound. I hurried forward to support her, but she thrust me fiercely -off, and retreated a step or two. I entered without invitation, and -surveyed with wonder and compassion the miserable apartment. When, -after this melancholy survey, I looked at Louisa Wolf, I was astonished -to observe that a dark frown had settled on her face, and that she -was regarding me with aversion. I had not long to wait before I was -enlightened as to the cause of this unwelcome and unexpected reception. - -"What do you do here?" she muttered. "What do you do here?" - -"I have made a long journey," I said, "especially to see you." - -"How have I deserved so great an honor," she asked, her eyes flashing -scorn at me, "from one so powerful and rich? You have something to say -to me--of course you have, else why should you have troubled yourself -to come to me? Is what you have to say about a man or a woman, Gustave -Fink?" - -"It is about your son Gideon," I replied. - -"About my dear son Gideon," she cried "I guessed as much, I guessed as -much! It is for evil you are here--you are capable of nothing else. -Have you come to complain of my boy? Have you come to set a mother -against her son? Well done, well done, Gustave Fink! Have you come to -tell me that Gideon ought to work twenty hours a day for you instead -of eighteen, and that he does not pay his debt to you quick enough to -satisfy your grasping soul? How is it possible, when you starve him, -when you cheat him, when you rob him of his rest? Is that the way to -treat the man who has slaved for you, who has worked his fingers to the -bone for you, who has made you rich, and who brings all the custom to -your shop? Yon would have been in the gutter had it not been for the -exertions of my noble boy, who found out too late that he was bound to -a monster without a heart. Did you think I was ignorant of your wicked -doings? Evil actions such as yours cannot be forever hidden. Go, go, or -I shall strike you!" - -And indeed she raised her feeble hand to put her threat into execution. - -I comprehended instantly the lying and backbiting that had been going -on, and the kind of character that villain Gideon had been giving me -all the time he had eaten my bread and been sheltered under my roof. -This was the return he had made for my kindness and consideration. -Where could that young man have got his secret and wicked mind from? -Not from his mother, whose heart had been always open to tender -impressions, and who, the moment she saw me, could not help speaking -frankly. It was the father who had bestowed upon his son the curse of -his venomous nature. Heavens! What some parents have to answer for! -There must have been a time in the world when human creatures were -suckled at the teats of treacherous animals. - -How could I be angry with the unfortunate woman? I pitied her--from -my heart I pitied her. What a fate was hers! First the father, then -the son. She was born to be deceived. She put her trust in rocks that -wounded her body and brought anguish to her soul. In what way was it -all to end? - -My mission was useless, I saw that clearly enough, and I was almost -tempted to exclaim, "Never again will I attempt to do good to any -living creature!" I had been animated by the best intentions, and they -were turned as poisonous arrows against me. After what I had heard I -was convinced that Louisa Wolf would put a wrong construction upon -every word I uttered concerning her son. Her mother's love was too -strong a shield for me to hope to produce any good effect upon it in my -desire to assist her. Perhaps it was as well; it was labor saved. Her -son's nature was too bad to be altered for the better; it was rotten to -the core. - -But I was desirous to ascertain the full extent of his -misrepresentations. - -"You know, then," I said, "how much your son is indebted to me." - -My amazement was great when she mentioned a sum it would have taken him -twenty years to repay. - -"Oh, I know, I know!" she cried, in terrible agitation, invoking, by -the movement of her hands, Heaven's imprecations on my head. "You have -set it all down against him, every florin, and added devil's interest, -so as to make him your slave for life. From the first week he became -your apprentice you brought him in your debt, and you continued to do -so day after day, week after week, till his time was out. He could -not leave you as he wished to do, because you had in your false books -page upon page of figures, which you told him he must clear off. You -threatened him with prison if he left in your debt. You would like me -to believe that it is not true--you would like me to believe that you -are an honorable, good man, and that my son is a thief; but, Gustave -Fink, you can no longer deceive me. There was a time--but it is past -I have been warned against you. My son has told me--yes, he has told -me in his letters that one day you would seek me out, and endeavor -to make me believe that he is worse than you are yourself. You can -save the lies; keep them to use on some other poor woman. Where is -Heaven's justice that such men as you prosper, while honest, upright -men are made to suffer? Gideon might dispute the debt--he might take -you before the judges, and say, 'My master is a rogue his accounts are -false; he makes me largely in debt to him because he does not wish me -to leave his service.' Of what use would it be? A poor man against a -rich man--we know what that comes to in law. And you have made people -think you are so good. Kind Master Fink! Benevolent Master Fink! That -is how they speak of you--those who are not acquainted with your real -character. You would have had _me_ believe it by sending me money from -time to time, and putting down twice the sum in your books against -Gideon. You have done yourself no good; every florin you have sent me -I have sent back to my poor boy yes, every florin. I have wanted bread -over and over again, but I have fasted for days rather than spend the -smallest coin of your money upon myself. It was my son's money you -were sending me, not your own. But your punishment is coming. Gideon -is your slave; he will not be so much longer. He will be free soon, -and then he will expose you, and will let me live with him. He will be -rich one day, mark my words, and you will have to stand aside and bow -to him. And I shall be with him--it will break your heart to see him -and his loving mother together at last, you who have tried your hardest -to keep us apart. Every year I have hoped to go to him, but you have -compelled him to put me off. 'Not this year,' he has been obliged to -write, 'not this year, but next. Master Fink will not hear of it yet -awhile, and he has so got me in his power that I dare not offend him by -asking you to come.' And then again, when another year went by, 'Master -Fink swears he will discharge me if you come, and will imprison me for -the money he says I owe him.' And again and again and again the same. -What could my poor boy do when you had set your heart upon separating -us? So it has gone on all these weary years, and I have never kissed -my boy's bright face since the unhappy day he left me to become your -apprentice. What wicked thing had I done in my life that I should be -so bitterly punished? What evil fortune led me to your door to beg you -to rob me of my son? Better that I had dropped down dead on the road, -for then Gideon would have remained among friends." Tears streamed -from her eyes; her face was convulsed with grief. "What pleasure," she -continued, wringing her hands and swaying to and fro, "do you think I -have in this world except him, my boy, my baby that I suckled at my -breast? What do I care for in the world but him? Has my life been so -full of joy that you should bring a deeper misery into it than any -I have suffered? You are my son's enemy and mine--oh, I have known -it long! You were my enemy when I was a girl, and you used to speak -against Steven because I chose him instead of you." - -I had listened in profound sorrow and indignation to the outpourings -of her grief, but for the life of me I could not remain silent at this -accusation. - -"Louisa Wolf," I said, "I never spoke against your husband. What I -thought I thought, but I never openly uttered one word against Steven -Wolf. You were free to choose, and you chose. With all my heart I wish -that your choice had brought you greater happiness." - -When I saw her eyes wandering mournfully round her cheerless apartment -I was angry with myself for having spoken. It would have been more -generous by far to have held my tongue. - -"Ah," she said, shuddering, "this is part of your revenge--this is -why you come here--to exult and rejoice over my misery! Years ago you -resolved in your heart that you would one day be revenged upon me for -refusing you and accepting another man. Well, you have your revenge! -Look at my home--you see the whole of it. There is no other room. Here -is my bed--a little straw on the bare boards. Here is the cupboard -in which I keep my food when I have any. Take your fill, take your -fill--you are well revenged. Look at my face--look at my hands--see -what I have come to, and rejoice!" She struck her breast despairingly. -Into my eyes the warm tears gushed, but she could not see them, for she -was blinded by her own. "Gustave Fink, I once held you in my heart--I -did, although I accepted Steven even then I held you in my heart. -Not guiltily, no, not guiltily, but as a sister might a brother whom -she could love and honor. I thought of you as a pure-minded, noble, -generous man, and I looked up to you as the best I had ever known. -Now, in my heart you have destroyed that image, and I regard you as a -monster. Yes, you are there still, but as my enemy and my son's enemy. -You have poisoned my life--your revenge has reached as far as that. -From the day upon which conviction entered my mind that you were not -worthy of my esteem, I had nothing but the memory of my son to comfort -me. You would rob me of him, but you shall not--you shall not, I say! -God will prevent you, and will smite you with a terrible but just -punishment for your cruelty to a poor and suffering woman!" - -Of what use to attempt to undeceive her? It would have been but adding -torture to torture. But was it not infamous that one's good intentions -should have been frustrated, and one's kindness turned to gall, by the -machinations of a knave? Still, I did say, out of simple justice to -myself, - -"Believe it or not, as you will, Louisa Wolf, my only motive in coming -here was to endeavor to do you and your son a kindness." - -"I do not believe it," said the poor creature, vehemently "your actions -give your words the lie! Answer me this, if you can. Did you seek me -out to tell me that Gideon had done his duty by you, that he was a -faithful, willing, honest servant, and that you are satisfied with him, -and grateful to him for the great services he has rendered you? Did -you come here to give me pleasure or sorrow? You are silent--you dare -not speak no, Gustave Fink, you dare not! God once smote a liar dead, -and you fear he would smite you the same. Now, hear me. Before this -year is out I will see my son, or die! Nothing shall prevent me nothing -but death! If he cannot come to me I will go to him, and give him a -mother's blessing--I will, as there is a Judge in heaven by whom you -shall one day be condemned!" - -Well, I left her; it was the best mercy I could show her. - -As I turned my back upon the miserable hovel I was conscious that a -spiritual sweetness had departed from my life, and that a human link of -love was snapped which could never again be made whole. Now that I had -lost the esteem of the woman whose laugh was the cheeriest, whose eyes -the brightest, whose face the sunniest in my remembrance, I felt how -precious it had been to me, and how, in its unrecognized influence, it -had often helped to soften my judgment and my temper when things were -not going exactly right with me. - -Thus it happened that twice in my life had I received a terrible wound -at the hands of a good and virtuous woman whom I had honorably loved. - -It was fortunate that at least two or three days were to elapse between -my interview with Louisa Wolf and my coming face to face again with -her treacherous son. Had I seen him immediately after the interview I -might have conducted myself in an unbecoming manner, and it would have -been good neither for him nor me. I had time on my homeward journey to -reason with myself. "Shall I make myself unhappy," I thought, "shall -I fret myself to a shadow because I have been maligned? Shall I allow -such a rascal as Gideon Wolf to entirely destroy my peace and repose? -That would, indeed, be giving him an advantage over me. Let me rather -bear this stroke with equanimity, and be thankful that there are still -some honest men left in the world." But it was poor comfort, and it -needed all my philosophy to calm the turbulence of my feelings. So -startling were the revelations! To think that all the money I had sent -to his mother during the last ten years, to soften her lot, should have -found its way into Gideon Wolf's pocket! And for him never to have -given me the slightest cause for suspicion that this cunning game was -being systematically carried on! It was a bit of trickery worthy of his -friend Pretzel. The pair of knaves! It was well for him--yes, it was -well for him that I did not meet him when I left his mother's cottage. -I should have been tempted to break every bone in his body. - -The latter part of the journey was by no means so enjoyable as the -first. The familiar scenes and signs which had afforded me so much -pleasure on my outward journey presented themselves in quite a -different aspect. They appeared to have grown suddenly much older, -to have become faded. What had happened to them? Had they, also, met -with a bitter disappointment that they should so swiftly have lost the -greater part of their beauty? The innkeeper's wife was scolding her -baby, who was crying and kicking like a little demon; the woman herself -was very plain-looking, and there was a sour expression on her face; -the orchards were dusty, the ducks seemed discontented, as though they -had eaten something which disagreed with them, the brooks and streams -were not so bright, the pigeons flew with heavy wings, the children -were listless in their movements, the hedges had lost their fragrance, -the fir-trees on the heights bent sadly towards me. Thus do we gain and -convey impressions according to our moods. A joyous heart can see the -sun behind the clouds, and there is gladness in the brightest day. Yes, -yes--a cheerful and contented spirit is man's best possession. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -RELATES HOW GIDEON WOLF LEFT MASTER FINK'S EMPLOYMENT. - - -I arrived home a little before noon on Saturday, and took down my -shutters and examined my stock. Nothing was missing or disturbed; -everything was as I had left it, except that some of the brooches and -chains had been brightened. That was my old Anna's doings, though -she said nothing about it till I asked her. The delight evinced by -this faithful servant at my return moved me deeply. Her hands hovered -about me with exceeding tenderness. She trotted up and down stairs -briskly, really as if she were a young girl, and before I had been -half an hour in the house she set before me a meal that did the heart -good only to look at it. The bright knives and forks and spoons, the -snowy table-cloth and napkins, the shining glasses, the sweetness and -cleanliness all around--let me tell you that there lies in these things -a medicine for the soul: it is not only the body that benefits by their -influence. And when Anna removed the covers--ah, then! The delicious -aroma floated into my inner being as it were, attacked by melancholy, -vanquished it, and sent it to the rightabout. I was myself again. I -rubbed my hands, and Anna rubbed hers. She was as pleased as I was. - -Gideon Wolf came in before I had finished my meal. His nostrils -twitched; he sniffed the fragrance. - -"It smells good, Master Fink," he said. - -"It eats better," I said. - -I did not ask him to join me after what I had heard it was not possible -for me to sit at the same table with him. - -"Did you enjoy your holiday?" he asked. - -I did not answer him I went on with my meal. - -"But it was not a real holiday, was it?" he continued. "You went partly -on business. Did you do a good stroke? You had fine weather. Which road -did you take?" - -"You want to know too much," I said, and I rose from the table and went -into the shop. He followed me there. - -I had made up my mind as to the course I should pursue towards him. -I would get rid of him as quickly as possible. To have a treacherous -creature continually in my sight would have made my life unbearable. He -should go; he had done mischief enough I would have nothing more to do -with him. - -He felt the coldness of my reception; I wished him to feel it. - -"You do not seem glad to see me," he said. - -"There is no special reason for joy," I replied. - -"I shall not trouble myself, however," he said. "Here are the watches -you gave me to repair." - -I laid them aside and paid him. He counted the money discontentedly. - -"It will barely pay for my week's board and lodging," he said. I made -no remark. Then he opened fire in real earnest. "You do not forget the -conversation we had last Saturday, Master Fink?" - -"Surely not," I replied; "it is fixed in my memory." - -"Do you still refuse the offer I made you?" - -"I still refuse it." - -"Once is enough. I have nothing more to say on the subject. Perhaps it -will be for my good that you do not take me into partnership." - -"Perhaps it will." - -My laconic answers angered him. - -"I should be a fool to waste the best years of my life in a service so -unprofitable." - -"Very likely, very likely." - -"You have lately frequently complained of my work." - -"With good cause. In spite of all my endeavors to teach you, I never -saw a watch-maker handle a watch more clumsily than you do." - -"It proves that I was made for higher things." - -"Or lower." - -"At all events I am going to better myself." - -"I am rejoiced to hear it. You give me notice to leave?" - -"If it pleases you, Master Fink." - -"It pleases me well. When is the affliction to fall upon me?" - -"As soon as convenient. Next week, or earlier, if it is acceptable." - -"It is quite acceptable. Go, Gideon, not next week, but this; not -on Monday, but to-day--now, this very hour. I will not delay your -prosperity by a single movement of a pendulum." - -He was disturbed, not expecting so cheerful an acquiescence. Did the -rascal think I should beg him to stay? - -"When I pay for the food I have had this week," he whined, "I shall -have nothing left." - -"Do I owe you anything? I thought it was the other way--or have I been -dreaming all these years?" - -"You do not strictly owe me anything but you surely do not wish to -thrust me on the world in a state of beggary!" - -"It is not I who thrust you on the world it is your own deliberate -act, my worthy Gideon, and your plans to better yourself are already -laid. However, your appeal shall not be made in vain. I will deal, -not justly, but generously, towards you." I opened my safe, and took -therefrom a packet containing coins. "I am going to make you a present -of twenty-eight florins." His eyes glistened, and he held out his -eager hand. "All bad ones, Gideon, every one of them! But I am not -responsible for that, it is your affair. Among them you will find, with -a date scratched on them, two false florins you brought to me this -day four weeks as having been paid to you by Strauss the butcher, for -repairs done to his watch." - -"He gave them to me!" cried Gideon, turning very white. His limbs -trembled; he was in mortal fear, "With his own hands he gave them to -me." - -"And you gave them to me. Go to Strauss, and inform him that he deals -in bad money, for you will find in this packet three other false -florins which you brought to me from him four months ago--you will -see the date on them--in payment for a pair of silver ear-rings he -bought for his little daughter. Go to Strauss, Gideon, go to him. He -was never known to rob even the rich, and if you succeed in convincing -him that he gave you the five bad florins, he will give you five -good ones in exchange for them. He will do it, Gideon, without a -murmur, for naturally he will be desirous to keep such a transaction -very quiet. There is also another bad coin you brought to me from -Rosenblatt the clothes-mender. Perhaps he found it in an old coat he -was patching. There are seven others in a batch--mere bits of lead, -Gideon--which you brought to me from Philip Adler the rabbi, in payment -of a long-standing account. Philip Adler is a charitable man, and much -loved. Go to him, and acquaint him with this sad business; he will not -see you wronged." - -"It is a plot!" gasped Gideon. "You wish to ruin me; you wish to take -away my character." - -"Let us not speak of plots," I said, and here my voice grew stern. "Let -us not speak of taking characters away. Every florin in this packet I -received direct from your hands, and I have kept a faithful record of -them. You will be glad to receive them back, for it is not a pleasant -matter; it is, indeed, as you are well aware, a most dangerous matter. -We live in evil times, Gideon, and one needs to be very, very careful -in his dealings. Beware of rogues and backbiters; avoid bad company; -speak always the truth; do not malign your benefactors; do not play -cards with the devil; and do not betray the innocent. Fare you well, -Gideon Wolf." - -His tongue was afflicted with a kind of St. Vitus's dance as he -endeavored to explain that he was innocent of this dangerous passing of -bad money for good. I sat back in my chair, and did not assist him out -of his tangle of words, I listened in silence, and when his tongue had -run itself down, like an ill-regulated watch, I bade him farewell once -more, and shut my door upon him. - -It was a happy release. Old Anna was overjoyed. - -"Now I can sleep in peace," she said. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -MASTER FINK ENDEAVORS TO RESCUE KATRINE LOEBEG FROM THE EVIL INFLUENCE -OF PRETZEL THE MISER. - - -I did not entirely lose sight of Gideon. It is not easy in a town like -this for a man to hide himself and his doings from the knowledge of his -neighbors, and it was very soon known to everybody that Gideon Wolf -and I had parted company. The question now was what he would do, how -he intended to live. I devoutly hoped that he would leave the town and -seek his fortune elsewhere, but my hope was not fulfilled. Old Anna, -womanlike, was more curious about him than I, and she made it her -business to find out all she could concerning his movements. Thus for -some time all the information I received with reference to him came -through her. On one day it was, - -"Gideon Wolf called this morning upon Peterson the tanner, to collect -some money he owes Miser Pretzel." - -On another day, - -"They were walking together this afternoon, Pretzel and Gideon." - -And at length, - -"Gideon Wolf has gone to live in the Temple, in the garret of the house -immediately opposite Miser Pretzel's." - -There have been great changes in the town these last few years. The -Temple has been pulled down to make room for the new railway-station -which is to bring confusion into our quiet lives. That demon, Steam, -will no longer permit us to live in peace and quietness. The young may -rejoice in these changes; to the old they are an affliction. - -It was certainly time the Temple was destroyed, for it was a disgrace. -Long, long since, hundreds of years ago, it had been used as a refuge -for monks and priests, and it was then that it got to be called the -Temple. The houses, I have no doubt, were grand places in those days, -but now they were so old and rickety that timid people had a fear of -them. As for honest and virtuous folk, on no account would they reside -there. It bore a dreadful reputation, and was given up entirely to vile -and desperate characters, jailbirds, loose women, desperadoes, and -adventurers. Nevertheless, there it was that Gideon Wolf took up his -quarters, at the top of a house four stories high, the roof of which -nearly touched the clouds. To save it from tumbling down, a heavy beam -had been fixed high in the air, in between it and the rotten old house -on the opposite side, in which Pretzel lived. These decrepit, worn-out -tenements leaned towards each other from sheer weakness, and could not -stand without support, like human beings who in their old age require a -prop to save them from falling to the earth. The crossbeam between the -two houses was fixed, on the left, just below the top window of Miser -Pretzel's house, and, on the right, immediately below the window of the -garret in which Gideon Wolf slept. The lower portion of this house was -occupied by people of bad character, the second and third floors were -empty, and only Gideon lived in the garret. In Miser Pretzel's house -no one resided but himself; it was his own property, and he would not -admit a tenant. Dwelling for years among lawless people, and keeping -always, as was currently reported, a large sum of money in his rooms, -it was wonderful that he was not robbed. But he seemed to be protected -by a charm, for no ill befell him, and he was able to carry on his -usurious practices without check or hinderance. It was understood that -Pretzel had taken Gideon into his employ, for the young man was now -regularly engaged in collecting debts owing to the miser by poor people -who had been drawn into his web. - -But if appearances went for anything, Gideon Wolf did not thrive in his -new vocation. Miser Pretzel, who loved his money with a closer love -than men have for their children, was not likely to pay liberal wages -to those who worked for him, and Gideon grew shabbier and poorer week -by week. I had opportunities of observing this, for he sometimes passed -my shop; but between us not a word was exchanged. - -"Miser Pretzel will get Gideon well into his clutches," said Anna, "and -then the devil will fly away with the pair of them." - -The autumn waned, and winter came on. A bitter, cheerless winter, -always remembered because of its heavy snowfalls, the like of which had -never been seen in the town. In the first week of November Anna burst -in upon me with the words, - -"What do you think? Katrine Loebeg has left her situation, and has gone -to attend upon Miser Pretzel." - -"That is bad news indeed," I said. - -"The child!" cried Anna, in deep distress. "The foolish, foolish child! -She will come quickly now to shame and ruin! Will no one stretch out a -helping hand to her--will no one save her?" - -"How can it be done?" I asked. "Heaven knows I would sacrifice much to -save the poor girl, but you remember how she received us when we spoke -to her before. She is her own mistress, and can do as she pleases; no -person has any legal authority over her. Were I her grandfather, or her -uncle, or even a distant relative of her dead mother, I might have some -right to interfere--although it would be useless, Anna, quite useless; -of that I am certain. She does not see Gideon Wolf with our eyes, and -it is he, no doubt, who has been instrumental in getting her into Miser -Pretzel's house." - -"Master Fink," said Anna, "you have a solemn duty before you, and you -must not shrink from it. You must save that sweet child from life-long -grief. It is in your power. All the town will bless you for the deed." - -"I don't want all the town to bless me," I said, somewhat testily I -must own. "I am content to do what is right for right's sake, and for -the sake of my conscience. In Heaven's Dame enlighten me how it is in -my power to save Katrine!" - -Old Anna spoke now very earnestly. "There is no one in the world who -is so thoroughly acquainted as yourself with the vile nature of that -scorpion, Gideon Wolf. To stand tamely by, and allow him to drag the -innocent soul of Katrine down to perdition would be a heavy sin. Oh, -Master Fink, I think there is a way. You have no wife, you have no -child--" - -"Ah," I exclaimed, "I see! you wish me to adopt Katrine as my child. -Thank you, Anna, thank you; you have a kind heart. It is a noble idea. -I will do it--yes, Anna, I will do it, if Katrine will consent. I will -be a father unto her, and as God is my judge I will deal tenderly and -lovingly by her. It will be a beautiful thing to have a fresh young -being like her in the house. And in course of time she shall forget -that rascal, Gideon Wolf, and set her heart upon some fine honest young -fellow who will make her happy." I glowed with pleasurable excitement; -I could not keep my seat; I walked up and down the room, rubbing my -hands. - -"Master Fink," said Anna, wiping her tears away with the back of her -hand, "I bless the day I first took service with you." - -"Never mind that, never mind that," I cried; "it is a waste of time -to talk of such things. We must see her at once--we must not lose a -moment. She is in danger, in positive danger." And then, all in a -moment, my spirits fell. "Are you sure, Anna, that she lives with Miser -Pretzel?" - -"Yes, there is no doubt of it, and we must go to his house, and speak -to her there." - -"Speak to her in Pretzel's house! Do you forget the enmity he bears to -me? He will not admit us; he will laugh at us, and shut the door in our -faces. He has been waiting for years to spite me; old as he is he would -walk a hundred miles to do me an injury." - -"We go to see Katrine, not to see him, Master Fink. There is nothing -to be afraid of; he will not eat us, and if he won't admit us into -the house we will call Katrine out, and speak to her in the streets. -Because it is unpleasant to do, you must not shrink from it." - -"I will not," I said, firmly. "Come, Anna, you shall accompany me. What -is right to be done should be done without delay." - -In less than three minutes I had locked up my shop, and Anna and I were -on our way to the Temple and in due time we paused before the door of -Pretzel's house. - -It was years since I had visited the Temple, and I was struck by the -ruined appearance of the habitations. Dirt and filth, rotting timbers, -broken windows stuffed with rags to keep out wind and rain, crumbling -stones, and signs of dilapidation, met my eye whichever way I turned. -One house had shrunk in the middle, just as if it had a pain in its -stomach, and there was not a dwelling that did not bear some strange -resemblance to a drunkard in the last days of his evil life. The signs -of animation were quite as deplorable. The cats were skinny, vicious, -fiery-eyed; fowls I should have fled from in horror had their emaciated -bodies been placed on my table were pecking in the gutters; and a dog, -a very skeleton of a dog, whose ribs were almost breaking through its -skin, barked and snapped at my heels as I knocked at Miser Pretzel's -door. Katrine herself opened it. She turned pale when she saw us, and -made a motion as though she would shut the door in our faces; but I -held it back, and said, in a gentle tone, - -"Katrine, we have come in perfect friendship, Anna and I. We wish to -speak to you in love and honest friendship--" - -"Who is there--who is there?" cried Miser Pretzel, from the lower part -of the house. "What is keeping you so long, Katrine?" - -"It is Master Fink and Anna," replied Katrine. - -He was up in an instant, and glided before Katrine and faced us. - -"What an honor--what an honor!" he exclaimed, surveying us with his -sly eyes. "Now, whoever would have thought that honest Master Fink, -upright Master Fink, who wastes young men's lives, and ruins them, and -treats them like dirt under his feet--whoever would have thought that -_he_ would make a friendly visit to poor old Pretzel! And handsome -Anna, too, with her beautiful white teeth close shut over her malicious -old tongue--she has come to see the poor old man! Katrine, my child," -and Pretzel drew the girl, who was now looking at us in anger, close -to him, "how shall we receive these worthy people who take away a -young girl's character, and lay cunning plots to ensnare a faithful, -generous-hearted, hard-working young man whom they have robbed of his -rights? How shall we receive them, eh?" And he patted the young girl's -hand, which he had placed on his arm, and smiled at us malevolently. - -I sighed. The power the old villain exercised over the innocent girl -was apparent; every word he spoke struck home, and increased the -dislike with which she regarded us. I was afraid that the mischief had -gone too far for me to repair it but I would not leave without making -the attempt. I had some difficulty in preventing Anna from reviling -Pretzel; she had not my prudence or self-control. - -"I have not come to see you, Pretzel; my visit is to Katrine." - -"Ah, ah," he rejoined, "you have not come to see me; but who is to -believe a liar? I had a notion that you wished to borrow another three -thousand florins of me for two years without interest. That is what I -did for this old fellow once, Katrine--ask him to deny it. He cannot, -you see. He was on the point of ruin, and because I did this good deed -out of pure compassion, because I lent him three thousand florins -without interest, and so saved him from beggary and the gutter, he has -gone on ever since speaking ill of me, and maligning me behind my back, -as he has maligned his confiding, unfortunate apprentice. It is how he -serves everybody. First he pretends to be kind to them, and when he has -got them in his power he bites them and blackens their reputations. He -is a wolf in sheep's clothing. His appearance is quite benevolent, is -it not, Katrine, my child? But never trust a man with such a face as -that never, never, or you will rue the day. Now I would lay a wager -that he has some evil intention in his mind as he stands there looking -at you with pretended sadness. Ask him what it is he wants to say to -you?" - -"What do you want of me?" asked Katrine, in a tone of deep resentment. - -By a great effort I controlled myself. "Katrine Loebeg," I said, "this -is no place for you. None but bad people live in this neighborhood--" - -Pretzel interrupted me. "What did I tell you, Katrine? And here stand -I, Pretzel, Gideon Wolf's best friend, the friend who is going one day -to make him rich and in the opposite house lives Gideon himself. Oh, -what bad people live here--what bad, bad people!" - -"I have come with a fatherly intention, Katrine," I said, "and old Anna -is with me--old Anna, who loves you, and wishes you nothing but good." - -"First a kiss, and then a scratch," sneered Pretzel. "Think of old Anna -loving you so dearly--she who said to you what she did about Gideon, -who would not sleep in the same house with him, and who would not cook -a meal for him for all the money that could be offered her! Dear me, -dear me--what a benevolent, kind-hearted, backbiting old woman!" - -I continued I would not be driven from my purpose by his sneers. - -"I ask you to come and live with me as my daughter, Katrine. I will -protect you as a father; I will provide for you as a father. Inquire of -any person in the town about my character--" - -"Yes, yes," said Pretzel, "ask Gideon Wolf for Master Fink's character. -Ask Gideon, ask Gideon." - -"--And you will learn that I have never wronged a human being--" - -"Then Gideon Wolf is not human," said Pretzel, "and I am an image of -stone. You shall prove for yourself, Katrine, what kind of a man this -is who stands before us. He shall himself show you his benevolent -heart. Ask him but one question--whether, if you accept his offer, he -will open his doors to Gideon Wolf, so that you may all live together -in love and good-will?" - -"Will you do this?" asked Katrine. - -"No," I answered, "it is impossible." - -"What do you say to that, Katrine?" cried Pretzel. "Does not that show -you something of his real meaning? He has abominable ideas in his head -about you. He wants you as his daughter--oh yes, as his daughter! That -is his pretence. It is infamous, infamous! If Gideon were here he -would throw this old sinner from my door-step into the road. Katrine -my child, I think I hear a window slamming down-stairs. Run and shut -it, and see that all the doors are secure. We must protect ourselves -against this wrong-doer." - -Katrine obeyed, and the moment she was out of sight Pretzel came close -to me and Anna. - -"How many years is it, Master Fink," he hissed, "since I told you I -would be even with you? Pretzel never forgets--never forgets and never -forgives--never forgives! You will find that I shall be more than even -with you. I will strike you through this simple girl. I will ruin her, -yes, I will blight her life, because I know it will cause you sorrow. -That will be interest for the money you borrowed of me--good interest, -good interest! I have Katrine and her lover in my power, and nothing -that you can do shall save them. The deeper the misery into which she -is plunged the deeper will be your suffering. I shall remember that, I -shall remember that, and Gideon Wolf and I, between us, shall strike -her with wretchedness. What do you say to that, you old hag?" And he -poked his face, upon which there was really a diabolical expression, -so close to Anna's that she jumped back, as if the evil one himself -were attempting to seize her. Katrine now re-appeared, and Pretzel put -his arm round her waist to protect her, and continued, "This scoundrel -has been unbosoming himself to me while you were away, and has been -gloating over his wicked intentions. You have heard his offer, and if -you allow him to go on he will tell you, being the prince of liars, -that if you do not accept it you will be ruined and brought to sorrow. -He is not at all particular in what he says. Perhaps you wish to hear -him." - -"I do not," said the poor girl, firmly. - -"Remember, then, how he has treated Gideon Wolf, and give him his -answer, Katrine." - -She looked me full in the face. "You are a slanderer," she said; "you -have an abominable heart. You cheat your workmen; you set snares for -the innocent; and you would separate me and Gideon, whom I love with -all my soul. Go; I will have nothing to say to you." - -"Heaven pity you!" I sighed; and Anna and I walked slowly away, and did -not speak a single word till we reached home. Then Anna said, - -"Do not take it too much to heart, Master Fink. You have done your -duty." - -But we were both very sad for many days. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -GIDEON WOLF AND HIS MOTHER BEGIN THE NEW YEAR TOGETHER. - - -Before we knew where we were, the last day of the old year was upon us. -Time is a thief he is forever stealing upon us, and robbing us of sunny -moments. He ripens to destroy. Joy vanishes, but sorrow remains. Never, -never, though I live to a hundred, shall I forget that last clay of the -old year. - -For four days the snow had fallen without cessation--heavy, thick, -blinding snow. There was no telling when it would leave off. The -streets were a foot deep, and people coming in from the surrounding -country related dismal stories of the state of the land. Depend upon it -that those who had no occasion to leave their houses were glad enough -to shut out the snow and the wind, and sit by their firesides, drinking -hot spiced wine. It had been a custom with me at different times of -the year, especially on New-year's night, for every person in my house -to assemble a little before midnight, for the purpose of drinking more -than one steaming glass of wine of Anna's making. That was not the only -good cheer in which we indulged and it happened sometimes that friends -were with us to help us eat the splendid dishes which Anna cooked for -us. This year Anna and I were alone. The day had not been particularly -joyous, but although no guests sat at my table I did not allow the old -year to go out unrecognized. Exactly as the clock struck eleven my -faithful old house-keeper made her appearance, carrying a jug of hot -wine, the fragrant steam of which was really delightful. - -"I thought I would come a little earlier than usual," said Anna, "in -case you might be lonely." - -"You did right, Anna," I said. - -I filled her glass and mine, and then we shook hands, and drank -the toast, "May we all be alive at the birth of another year, in -contentment and health!" Then Anna, upon my invitation, sat on the -opposite side of the fire, and we disposed ourselves for a chat. - -"This is the quietest New Year we have ever spent," I said. "Just -before you came in, Anna, I was feeling very melancholy." - -"It does no harm, a little melancholy," said Anna, "though this is a -week in which happiness should reign. For my part, always at this time -I keep thinking of the poor and pitying them, and wishing I could do a -great deal for them." - -It is only just to the memory of my old Anna to say that she was one of -the kindest souls in existence. She was forever giving away--so much so -that it was impossible for her to save money--and she never spoke of -her charities. It was seldom that she could not see to the bottom of -her purse. - -We spoke of many things--of the storm raging without, of Katrine -Loebeg, of Gideon Wolf, of Miser Pretzel--and wondered how they were -spending the evening. Then Anna related to me a pitiful story of one -New-year's night, long ago in the past, when she was a child living -with her mother, who was very poor. How that they had no home, and were -walking through the cold snow in grief and darkness, when they saw -lights in the windows of a farm-house. How they crept to the windows, -and how, although fierce dogs were chained up they did not even bark -at Anna and her mother. How they peeped through the windows, and saw -all the family so happy that Anna began to sob. How her sobs reached -the ears of those within, and how the master came out, and after a few -questions took them into his house, where they were fed and warmed and -made happy. She had nearly come to the end of her story, which she -related with wonderful animation, when I held up my hand. - -"I thought I heard a sound at the street door," I said. - -We listened in silence, but heard nothing, and I told Anna to proceed. -Her story was just finished as I held up my hand again. - -"I must be haunted," I said; "when I don't listen, I hear sounds like -moans; when I listen, I hear nothing. I cannot rest till I satisfy -myself." - -I went to the street door and opened it, and the snow and the howling -wind beat in upon me and almost blinded me. I called out loudly many -times, and receiving no answer, nor seeing anything, was about to close -the door, when Anna, who had followed me, gave a great scream, and -darting past me fell upon her knees. I looked down, and beheld her busy -about the form of a woman lying in the snow. I stooped to assist her; -and we carried the insensible woman into my room, and laid her before -the fire. - -"Poor thing, poor thing!" said Anna, rubbing the woman's hands and -limbs. "Ah, what a state she is in! God help us, I fear she is frozen -to death." - -As she spoke these words I recognized the woman. - -"It is Louisa Wolf," I said, pityingly, "Gideon Wolf's mother, for whom -you made some soup on the day she came to ask me to take her son as -my apprentice. No wonder that you do not recognize her; she is sadly, -sadly altered. She has come--I divine it to spend the New Year with her -son, whom she has not seen since he was a lad. For Heaven's sake, let -us do all we can to revive her!" - -Anna hurried away to light the fire and get the bed ready in the room -Gideon used to occupy. Before she returned, the warmth and the hot wine -I succeeded in making the poor creature drink--and I have no doubt the -mother's love which had sustained her in her weary journey--restored -Louisa Wolf to consciousness. She opened her eyes and they fell upon -me. Ah, what a state of poverty she was in! Her clothes were in rags, -her boots were worn off her feet, her face was pinched with cold and -hunger and suffering. My heart bled for her. Recognizing me, she pushed -me feebly from her with exclamations of horror, and struggled to her -feet. - -"My son!" she cried, in a terrible voice; so hoarse was it, so charged -with overwrought agony, that it was scarcely human. "My son!" - -"Rest yourself first," I said, compassionately; it was evident she did -not know that Gideon had left my employment; "rest yourself, and take -some food. Then we will talk." - -"I want no rest," she cried, "nor will I eat in your house! It would -choke me. Give me back my son you shall no longer keep him from me! -I have walked fifty miles through the snow to see him, hoping to be -here two days ago; but the cruel snow kept me back. Oh, my God, what I -have suffered! My son--my son--give me my son! Do you hear me? Give me -my son! Gideon, Gideon!" she screamed. "Your old mother is here! Come -to me, for God's sake come to me!" Her screams brought Anna into the -room. "Ah," cried Louisa Wolf, running to Anna, and putting her hands -convulsively upon her; "you are a woman; you have a human heart beating -in your breast--not like that monster there--" - -"Stop!" exclaimed Anna; "you are crazy--you don't know what you are -saying. Master Fink is a good and just man, and any one who says -otherwise cannot be in her right senses." - -"Anna," I said, sadly, "do not waste time in defending me. We stand in -the presence of a sorrow so overwhelming that all other considerations -are as nought in my eyes. I forgive Louisa Wolf for any words she may -speak against me. The great Lord of all, who rules the storm and the -tempest without--not fiercer is it, Anna, than the storm which racks -and tears this poor woman's soul--has seen my actions, and will judge -me." Anna came to my side and kissed my hand; it was a simple action, -but it comforted me. "Louisa Wolf," I said, "your son is not here." - -"Where, then, can he be?" she moaned, and she looked about the room -really as though she were bereft of reason. "Merciful God! Do not tell -me he is dead!" - -"He lives," I said, "but I know nothing more of him than that. He left -my house four months ago, and from that day we have spoken no word to -each other." - -"Four months ago!" she muttered. "That must be about the time you came -to our old village. Why did he not tell me--why did not you? You are -speaking the truth, Gustave Fink? Swear it, by your mother's spirit!" - -"I am speaking the truth, Louisa Wolf," I said; "I swear to it by the -memory of my mother!" - -"Then I have no business here," she said, bewildered and dazed. "I came -to this house to find him to press him in my arms--to embrace him, and -receive his kisses! Oh, my dear one, my baby boy, where art thou? Tell -me, you two--my enemies--tell me where I shall find my son." - -"He lives in the Temple," I said, "a mile from this spot. That is all I -know, and all I can tell you." - -"In the Temple," she murmured, "a mile from this spot. God give me -strength to get there! The Temple! A sacred place. I hear the holy -music! My dear one, my dear one!" She raised her hands, mid there was -a look of ecstasy on her face. Suddenly she recovered herself, and -shuddering at the sight of me, said, "May I never again be afflicted -with the sight of your face, Gustave Fink! The Temple--the Temple!" And -she staggered to the door. - -"You will never dream of going there to-night!" I cried; and Anna stood -in her way. - -"No," she said, "I will not dream of going--I will go. No mortal -power shall stop me. The Temple! Do you not hear the music? Ah, how -sweet--how sweet!" - -"Think a moment," I said, hurriedly; "listen to the storm. It increases -in fierceness. There is not a soul in the streets." - -"God is there," she answered, "and all his holy angels. You cannot -prevent me from going--they will not permit you. I am coming, Gideon, -I am coming, my dear one! Thou and I will spend the New Year together. -The storm is singing, to guide me to thee!" - -"Give me my cloak, Anna," I said; "I will go with Louisa Wolf; -otherwise she will perish in the snow." - -"I will accompany you, Master Fink," said Anna; "I will not leave you -to-night." - -In a moment my cloak was on my shoulders, and my fur cap on my head. -Anna, also, was as quickly equipped. She would have wrapped a thick -shawl round Louisa Wolf, but the kindly service was rejected, and the -shawl fell to the ground. I picked it up and carried it on my arm. - -We went out into the storm. So thick was the falling snow that I could -scarcely see a yard before me. It swirled into our faces, and the -sharp wind cut us bitterly. But Louisa Wolf did not feel it. A look of -rapture was in her eyes, and on her lips an ecstatic smile. - -"Dear angels, lead me!" she whispered, as she stepped from my house. - -Not a light was to be seen, not a human being but ourselves was abroad; -our feet sank into the snow more than ankle deep, and we heard no sound -but the raging wind. Moving as we did, noiselessly along, the moaning -and the sobbing of the storm seemed, as it were, to be dissociated from -us, and even amid these tempestuous evidences we were engulfed in an -awful white silence. We were like three spirits moving through dead -streets. - -The difficulties in our way were so great that we made but slow -progress. Louisa Wolf refused all offers of assistance; she would not -touch our hands. Surely some superhuman power must have sustained her -through the terrible fatigue she had endured. We were more than an -hour reaching the Temple, and if Anna spoke to me, or I to her, it was -in a whisper. Only once did we stop--when the distant church bells -proclaimed the birth of a New Year. - -Sweet and solemn they pealed upon the air, conveying their pregnant -message which all do not take to heart--the message of the cradle and -the grave. - -"A Happy New Year to you, master," said Anna. - -"And to you, Anna," I replied. - -"The bells of the New Year!" murmured Louisa, Wolf. "God bless my -beloved son, and make his life honored and happy!" - -At length we were within a hundred yards of Miser Pretzel's residence, -and then a singular impression stole upon me. There appeared to be an -unusual movement in the air, a tremulous pulsing, as it were. I cannot -more clearly define it; the impression was more spiritual than real. -But it was prophetic of what followed. - -We entered the narrow streets of the Temple; we traversed the tortuous -thoroughfare in which Gideon Wolf resided; we stopped before the house, -immediately opposite the house of Miser Pretzel. - -High up in the air, the beam which kept these houses from falling upon -each other in deadly embrace was indicated by a thick band of snow, -stretching from garret window to garret window. - -"Your son lives here," I said to Louisa Wolf. - -"Here!" she sighed. "Yes, yes, I see the lights, I hear the angels' -music. Hush! my dear one's voice is among them. Gideon, Gideon my -darling, I am waiting for thee!" - -She slid from my supporting arms, which she had not now the power to -thrust from her--indeed she was not conscious that they were around -her--and sank upon the white steps of the door which, open, would have -led her to her son's chamber. Her back was towards this door, her face -towards the house occupied by Pretzel. - -"Her strength is spent," I said to Anna. - -As I uttered these words the upper window of Pretzel's house, -immediately above the snow-clad beam, was thrust violently open, and a -man issued therefrom, and sliding cautiously upon the wooden support, -embraced it with his arms and legs. At the same moment a glare of light -made itself visible in the room from which he emerged. I grasped Anna's -arm, and her eyes followed the direction of mine. Entranced, we watched -the man winding his way, inch by inch, along the beam, to the opposite -window, which gave light to the room in which Gideon Wolf slept. So -perilous was this enterprise that we held our breaths in very fear; we -stood like stone, transfixed. - -The glare in the room the man had left grew stronger and stronger, and -like a great dark snake the man, whose body was stretched lengthways -upon the beam, slid slowly onward till he reached Gideon Wolf's window. -Then, with one hand cautiously raised, he strove to open this window; -but he strove in vain. The window was fast, and no effort of his could -move it. He could use but one hand; the beam was slippery with snow -and ice-flakes, bits of which, dislodged by his movements, fell at -our feet. His other arm and hand embraced the beam, to save himself -from falling to certain death. One glance did I give at Louisa Wolf. A -transport of rapture was on her face; she made a movement as though she -were pressing a baby to her breast. - -"See," whispered Anna, pointing upward, and she clung to me, trembling -in every limb, "he is turning back." - -Yes, foiled in his endeavors to open the window, the man, by a -wonderful exercise of strength, twisted himself round, and was now -sliding towards the room he had left. His progress was slower and more -laborious; his exertions had well-nigh exhausted him. - -"He will be killed--he will be killed!" gasped Anna. "He will fall, and -die here at our feet! Help--help!" - -"Do not cry out," I said, and with my hand on her mouth I prevented her -screams from being heard. - -"We cannot help him before he reaches Pretzel's window. If you rouse -Louisa Wolf to consciousness she will go mad. Do you not see who it is -up there?" - -"No," she replied, "my eyes are too weak." - -"Anna, it is Gideon Wolf himself." - -Yes, it was he and no other, and as I gazed at his snake-like figure I -marvelled to myself what kind of devil's work he had been engaged in. -It was something villainous and unholy of that I was inwardly convinced. - -By this time he had reached the open window of Miser Pretzel's house; -but as he placed his hand upon the sill, and raised his head almost to -the level of his hand, a tremendous volume of flame burst upon him and -compelled him to shrink swiftly down upon the snow-clad beam. - -"My God!" I cried, "the man is lost! The house is on fire! Anna, look -after Louisa Wolf. Katrine Katrine! Pretzel--Pretzel! Come quickly, or -you will be burned to death!" - -And I beat with my fists upon Pretzel's door, and kicked at the panels -with all my strength. - -In less time than I take to tell it, the entire upper portion of Miser -Pretzel's house was one mass of flame; cries and shouts rent the air; -doors were flung open; half-naked people rushed out of their houses -screaming women and children ran this way and that. But Miser Pretzel's -house remained fast closed, and Louisa Wolf lay motionless in the snow, -with her head in old Anna's lap. Strong men hacked at Pretzel's door -with knives and axes, while Gideon Wolf, clinging to the snow-clad -beam, cast frantic glances around--above, below, on every side--and -screamed to us to save him. We could not hear his words, the uproar -was so great, but we saw by his gestures that he was making agonized -appeals to us. Ah, ah! They had broken in Pretzel's door, and reckless -men rushed into the house to save the miser and Katrine Loebeg. - -"Keep back, Master Fink," they cried, "we can do the work better than -you." It was easy for me to obey them, for I was fascinated by Gideon -Wolf's deadly peril. His struggles to retain his hold grew fainter and -fainter. In his agony and terror and weakness his body slipped from -the beam, and he hung in mid-air, sixty feet above us, supported only -by one arm. In this violent movement his clothes became disarranged, -and from his loosened pockets fell a great number of gold pieces. -Yes, into the snow, like dead birds overweighted by sin, descended -the bright golden shower, and the people threw themselves upon the -ground, and tore frantically into the thick white carpet to gather it. -Simultaneously with this new feature of the awful scene, men issued -from Pretzel's house, bearing two bodies, the miser's and Katrine's. -They brought them close to me, exclaiming, - -"There has been murder done!" - -They pointed to wounds in the breast of Miser Pretzel, from which -the blood was still flowing, proving that the dark deed had been but -recently committed. But Katrine was safe in my arms--I felt her warm -breath upon my face--her bosom heaved--her eyes opened. She gave one -upward glance, and beheld the suspended form of Gideon Wolf gradually -but surely slipping from life to death. - -"Murderer!" she screamed. - -Ah, my God! Never shall I forget that scream. It was the knell of love -and hope and faith and happiness. It rings in my ears now. It reached -Gideon Wolf's in the last moments of his life, and he knew that his -crime was discovered. With a wild shriek his arm slid from the beam, -and he fell through the air upon the stones, forcing a shower of -bloodstained snow into the faces of those who stood near his crushed -and mangled form. - -"Look, Master Fink, look!" said Anna, pulling at my cloak. - -I knelt by the side of my old sweetheart, Louisa Wagner. I pillowed her -head upon my breast. - -"Listen," she murmured, "the angels are still singing. How sweet--how -beautiful! The door of the Temple is open. The lights are there, and -I see my boy--my angel baby-boy. Gideon, my dear one, I have come to -spend the New Year with thee! Ah, he is in my arms I am happy, I am -happy! All my pain has gone. How dim the lights are growing in the -Temple! That is because you are not there, my dear one. We will never -part again, darling! Closer--closer--closer!" - -And with her lips upon my lips she died. - - -* * * * * * - - -You guess, do you not, that Katrine Loebeg, the young woman with the -silver hair, is my house-keeper now? - - - -THE END. - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Self-Doomed, by B. L. 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