into her cheeks--this
time with shame at the praise which she deserved so little, yet which
rendered her so happy. Finally, the sufferer expressed a desire for a
priest, that she might not pass from earth without a sacrament. Her
sins oppressed her sorely. She, and she alone, was to blame for Nickel's
being hanged. Never in all her life had she been a glutton; but before
the birth of the twins the devil had tormented her with a strange
longing for roast fowl, which she had been unable to repress and keep
to herself. Solely for her gratification, Nickel stole the goose and the
hens. In spite of many a bad business in which his reckless nature had
involved him, he was a good fellow, with a loving heart.

For her sake he would have tried to steal the ring from the
executioner's finger. Now he had gone into the other world unshriven,
with the rope about his neck, for though the benefit of the sacrament
was usually granted even to the worst criminals, the peasants strung
Nickel up to the nearest tree as soon as they caught him, without
heeding his entreaties. This made death even harder for her than the
thought of the poor little creatures yonder in the bundle of rags.
Kuni's charity had provided for the orphans, but her Nickel would find
no mercy from the heavenly Judge throughout eternity.

She had sobbed aloud as she spoke, and then writhed in such violent
convulsions that Kuni with difficulty prevented her from throwing
herself out of the hot straw in the cart upon the damp meadow.

When she grew somewhat calmer, she repeated Nickel's name again and
again till it was heartrending to hear her.

CHAPTER IX.

As soon as the sufferer's condition would permit, Kuni left her, went to
the window of the taproom in The Blue Pike, and surveyed its inmates.

Most of them were already asleep on heaps of straw, which were raised at
the head by chairs turned upside down. The richer guests had gone to
the bedrooms, which, however, they were obliged to share with several
others. Some of the strollers were lying on the floor with their
knapsacks under their heads. A few of the musicians were still lingering
over the wine which the travelling merchants and artisans had ordered
for them. Others had gone with some of the vagrants into the little wood
beyond the meadow, where they danced, fiddled, and sang.

Their loud shouts were borne by the cool night breeze to the sufferer in
the cart. The gentlemen from Cologne, without tr