e willow?" suddenly asked Walpurga.

"It was blown down by the storm, last spring."

Walpurga asked questions, but heeded not what she asked nor the answers
she received. "Just see, how clear the brook is, and how swiftly it
flows. I think it never used to flow so quickly. And they've built a
new house here, and there they've felled the trees, and, just look at
the beautiful little water-wagtails. They're larger and more beautiful
with us than anywhere else."

They met a boy on a gray mare which he was riding to water. "That's
Grubersepp's Waldl. How stout he's growing!"

"And it's a good beginning, that the first one to meet us should be a
boy," said Hansei. "Waldl!" he called out to the lad, "come over to our
house this evening and I'll give you some cherries." The boy made no
reply and rode on.

"The two cows grazing there near the little girl, are ours," said
Hansei.

Everything comes; everything except the mother and the child.

"Mother's at home," cried Walpurga, suddenly. "Mother's at home. I see
smoke rising from our chimney; and there she stands by the fire with
the child on her arms. Oh mother! Oh child! How is it possible that you
don't notice anything? I'm coming! I'm here! I'm home! I'm coming!"

The wagon stopped before the house.

"Mother! Child!" cried Walpurga from the depths of her heart. The
mother came out of the house, with the child on her arm.

Walpurga embraced her mother and kissed her child, but it cried and
would not go to her.

Walpurga went into the room and sat down beside the stove. Her hands
were folded on her lap, and she was weeping. She looked about her as if
she were in a strange world.

"Leave her to herself for a little while; give her a breathing spell,"
said the grandmother to Hansei, who had gone out of the house, and who,
with the driver's assistance, had been unloading the chests.

It was but a short time that Walpurga remained in the room, a prey to
sad thoughts. The sun stood high over the opposite mountains, its rays
making every blade of grass in the garden glitter like burnished gold.
The mountains in the west were all aglow with light, and those opposite
were reflected half-way across the lake. The day had been one of great
excitement to Walpurga. What she had hoped for was now realized. There
was nothing more to come. She felt as if she must start off again, as
if she must be up and doing. And then it suddenly occurred to her that
it was wrong to remain s