n the table, and he laughed so heartily
at this clever sally, that his two dogs began to bark and thus
accompanied his laughter with their applause. He showed the other
visitors that it would not do to weary their hosts. He left soon
afterward, the rest of the company going with him.

CHAPTER III.

"And for your mother I'll build a snug room looking toward the garden,
where she can take her comfort. I always knew it before, but it wasn't
till you were away, that I found out what a treasure she is to us. If
the Lord only lets us keep her with us for many a year to come. Yes,
your mother shall have the best room in the house."

Thus spake Hansei, with gleeful countenance. Walpurga inquired: "Where
do you mean to build?"

Hansei looked around as if to express his surprise at her asking such a
question. He had yielded so far as to promise that nothing should be
done without his wife's consent. He thought that this was all that
could in reason be expected of him, and that it was best to finish up
the business at once.

With great self-command, he said:

"Why, at our inn, to be sure. I shan't do anything to this tumble-down
cottage. But I've already told them that they mustn't disturb the
nut-tree. You'll be surprised when you see how full it is. We shall get
three measures of nuts this year, and a nut year is a good one for
boys."

Walpurga clapped her hand to his mouth and, with downcast eyes, said:
"You're a dear, good fellow: but, believe me, I know you better than
you do yourself. I'm glad that you're much sharper than you used to.
be. I often used to tell you not to be so bashful and forever keeping
in the background. You've so much common sense; more, indeed, than all
the rest of them. If you could only have been behind the door, when I
told the queen about you; and she promised me faithfully that she'll
come to see us when she visits the mountains next year."

Hansei complacently swallowed the praise that his wife bestowed upon
him, and kept on smiling to himself for some time afterward.

Husband and wife praised and extolled each other--a custom more honored
in the breach than the observance, at least among peasants, who would
feel ashamed if they knew of it. Their coming together, after so long a
separation, seemed like a new wooing and wedding. The question of the
purchase of the inn prevented them, however, from fully realizing this,
and even threatened to imperil t