ake me home to the mansions of the blest! I come, my son; I come!'

'Why, how funny you talk, mother!' said Conrad. 'I only wanted to ask
you for a pair of clean stockings, because mine have got so wet wading
along the Muenzbach. I have only just come in from the Swedish camp,
and I've brought you the box you buried in our old cellar.'

'Swedish camp!--box!--cellar!' repeated the bewildered woman, as though
she were still in a dream. 'Have you not been dead these three days?
And is not this your spirit, that a poor blind woman cannot even see?'

'Why, mother, whatever are you thinking about?' cried Conrad, laughing
in spite of his cold feet. 'Here, catch hold of me, feel me; I'm flesh
and blood. Did not father tell you he had sent me off to the Swedes to
get this box? They didn't do me one bit of harm; they didn't even
starve me. But they would not let me go and dig in our cellar; they
said that was not work for stupid boys. So they did all the digging,
and brought me the box all right; and, considering what a lot of
thieves they are, I think that was almost a miracle. I say, mother,
whatever did you put in the box? It's all nailed up so tight I
couldn't open it.'

He placed a case about fifteen inches long, by six inches broad and
high, in his mother's hands. The blind woman felt it all over in
wonder.

'I don't know anything about any box,' she said. 'And I'm sure I never
had anything to bury.'

'Perhaps Master Prieme was right after all, then,' said Conrad.

'Who is this talking in here?' cried Juechziger, coming suddenly into
the room. 'Ha! is it you, you young good-for-nothing? Where have you
sprung from? Quick now, confess, or I'll warm you soundly.'

'Well, I'm sure I'm cold enough, father,' said Conrad, with a feeble
attempt at a joke; 'and it was on your business, too, that I got so
cold. Is that all the thanks I am to have for bringing you the box all
safe and sound?'

'What! is that true? You're a very fine fellow. Give it me here,
quick!' cried Juechziger in a tone full of joy.

'But,' said his wife, 'I never buried a box with treasure in it. What
can we have to do with this?'

'Oh, I had a dream the other night,' answered Juechziger, 'as life-like
a dream as if I had really been standing in the cellar of our old
house. And see here, my dream has come true, and no mistake about it.
A little mountain-troll dressed, in grey stood before me in my dream,
and said, "Let your son,