d a soldier: the
short flapping jacket set off in fine contrast the display of
well-rounded limbs cased in the close-fitting military breeches. He
looked like an officer in undress, so fine was the blending of ease and
precision in all his movements.

At the top of the hill they saw the gamekeeper in conversation with the
woodranger of Nordstetten. Sepper even observed that he was pointing
toward them, and cleared his throat as if to prepare a sharp answer for
the "gentleman," who was still two hundred yards away. Then he put his
arms around Tony's neck and gave her a hearty smack, as a sort of broad
hint for him who ran to read. This done, he walked on, whistling a
lively tune, with something of a swagger.

His manner would have been still more emphatic if he had heard what the
gamekeeper was saying to the woodranger, which was, "See! there she
comes now. It is a girl as white as wax,--for all the world like the
mother of God in the church: I never saw any thing like it in all my
life."

"Yes, I thought you meant her," replied the woodranger "It's the
Poodlehead's daughter: they call him Poodlehead because he has white
curly hair like a lamb, just as the girl has, too. In the village they
call her the maiden-blush, because she has such pretty red cheeks. The
old parson knew what's good, and wanted her for a cook; but it was no
go. Poodlehead wiped his chops for him with a 'No, thank ye.' Tony will
get her ten acres some day in this commune, and they say there's more
besides."

The gamekeeper shook hands and took his leave before the party had
quite reached him.

Sitting on an unploughed strip of land, between two fields,--such as
take the place of fences in that hedgeless country,--our friends spent
the afternoon in singing and kissing. Bridget had the worst of the
game, for her sweetheart was with the soldiers at Heilbronn: who knows
what he was about while his girl sat aside from the others with
blushing face, playing with a flower and thinking of him? At dusk she
was wanted to "fix up" the others: her own collar was in perfect trim,
while the collars and the hair of her friends were all "mussed and
fussed," as she said, scolding good-naturedly.

All the girls and boys now met on the highroad, and the sexes walked
separately. In the west, or, as they say there, "across the Rhine," the
sun went down blood-red and gave promise of a pleasant day. The boys
walked into the village in files which spread nearly acro