he knew very well what sister Trudis were
like. "I do not pity you," she said; "I couldn't pity any being who
lived in this air, and under this sky. Look how blue it is--and the
geese--did you ever see such white geese?"

A flock of geese were being driven across the sunny yard, dazzling in
their whiteness. Anna lifted up her face to the sun and drew in a long
breath of the sharp air. She forgot Lohm for a moment--it was such a
glorious Easter Sunday, and the world was so full of the abundant gifts
of God.

Dellwig, who had been watching them from his wife's window, thought that
the brawlers who were going to be fined had been kept waiting long
enough, and came out again on to the steps.

Lohm saw him, and felt that he must go. "I must do my business," he
said, "but as you have given me permission I will send an advertisement
to the papers to-night. Of course you desire to have an elderly lady of
good family?"

"Yes, but not too elderly--not so elderly that she won't be able to
work. There will be so much to do, so very much to do."

Lohm went away wondering what work there could possibly be, except the
agreeable and easy work of seeing that this young lady was properly fed,
and properly petted, and in every way taken care of.

CHAPTER X

He sent the advertisement by the evening post to two or three of the
best newspapers. He had seen the pastor after morning church, who had at
once poured into his ears all about Anna's twelve ladies, garnishing the
story with interjections warmly appreciative of the action of Providence
in the matter. Lohm had been considerably astonished, but had said
little; it was not his way to say much at any time to the parson, and
the ecstasies about the new neighbour jarred on him. Miss Estcourt's
need of advice must have been desperate for her to have confided in
Manske. He appreciated his good qualities, but his family had never been
intimate with the parson; perhaps because from time immemorial the Lohms
had been chiefly males, and the attitude of male Germans towards parsons
is, at its best, one of indulgence. This Lohm restricted his dealings
with him, as his father had done before him, to the necessary
deliberations on the treatment of the sick and poor, and to official
meetings in the schoolhouse. He was invariably kind to him, and lent as
willing an ear as his slender purse allowed to applications for
assistance; but the idea of discussing spiritual experiences with him,