kept his thoughts to himself,
for he respected the religious sentiments of the old man, and would not
hurt his feelings.

"And the Virgin, why is she there?"

"Ah! that is a wonderful story, sir," he answered, apparently wishing
to evade an explanation.

"Which every one ought not to know?"

"Well--but perhaps the gentleman would laugh, and I would not like
that!"

"Why do you think I would laugh at the story?"

"Because you are a gentleman of quality, and from the city, and such
people do not believe any more in miracles."

This observation of rustic sincerity was not pleasing to Frank. It
expressed the opinion that the higher classes ignore faith in the
supernatural.

"If I promise you not to laugh, will you tell me the story?"

"I will; you were kind to me, and you can ask the story of me. About
thirty years ago," began the old man after a pause, "there lived a
wealthy farmer at Salingen whose name was Schenck. Schenck was young.
He married a rich maiden and thereby increased his property. But
Schenck had many great faults. He did not like to work and look after
his fields. He let his servants do as they pleased, and his fields
were, of course, badly worked and yielded no more than half a crop.
Schenck sat always in the tavern, where he drank and played cards and
dice. Almost every night he came home drunk. Then he would quarrel with
his wife, who reproached him. He abused her, swore wickedly, and
knocked everything about the room, and behaved very badly altogether.
Schenck sank lower and lower, and became at last a great sot. His
property was soon squandered. He sold one piece after another, and when
he had no more property to sell, he took it into his head to sell
himself to the devil for money. He went one night to a cross-road, and
called the devil, but the devil would not come; perhaps because Schenck
belonged to him already, for the Scripture says, 'A drunkard cannot
enter the kingdom of heaven.' At last a suit was brought against him,
and the last of his property was sold, and he was driven from his home.
This hurt Schenck very much, for he always had a certain kind of pride.
He thought of the past times when he was rich and respected, and now he
had lost all respect with his neighbors. He thought of his wife and his
four children, whom he had made poor and miserable. All this drove him
to despair. He determined to put an end to himself. He bought a rope
and came up here one morning to hang himself