romise to give him a piece of spice cake which he was bringing home to
Ursel to sweeten the disagreeable taste of her medicine produced so
soothing an influence, that little Hans at last looked up at him
trustingly and hopefully.

The cellar man's oldest son, who had violently assaulted the old
gentleman to release his little brother, now stood penitently before him,
and the landlord's boy related, in somewhat confused but perfectly
intelligible words, the object of their coming, and in whose name they
were bringing the roll and yonder little package to old Ursel.

The story sounded humble enough, but as soon as the captain had set
little Hans on his feet and bent curiously over the forerunners of the
dear friend, which had been placed on the little bench by the door, the
three boys dashed down the stairs, and the shrill voice of the landlord's
son shrieked from the lowest step one "Turkey gobbler" and "Pope's slave"
after another.

"Satan's imps!" shouted the old man; but the outer door, which banged
below him, showed that pursuit of the naughty mockers would result to his
disadvantage. Then as, with an angry shake of the head, he drew back from
the banisters, he saw his daughter's playmate.

How dear the latter was to him, and how fully his aged heart had retained
its capacity of feeling, were proved by the reception which he gave the
returning knight. The injury just inflicted seemed to have been entirely
forgotten. With tears in his eyes and a voice tremulous with deep
emotion, he drew Wolf toward him, kissing first his head, which reached
only to his lips, then his cheeks and brow. Then, with youthful vivacity,
he expressed his pleasure in seeing him again, and, without permitting
Wolf to speak, he repeatedly exclaimed:

"And my Wawerl, and Ursel in there! There'll be a jubilee!"

When Wolf had at last succeeded in returning his old friend's greeting
and then expressed a wish, first of all, to clasp the faithful old
maid-servant's hand, the old gentleman's beaming face clouded, and he
said, sighing:

"What has not befallen us here since you went away, my dear Wolf! My path
has been bordered with tombstones as poplars line the highway. But we
will let the dead rest. Nothing can now disturb their peace. Old Ursel,
too, is longing for the end of life, and we ought not to grudge it to
her. Only I dread the last hour, and still more the long eternity which
will follow it, for the good, patient woman entered the s