f wine had just been opened, and, as usual on
such occasions, the drinking was at the host's expense.

"Ah! here comes the new landlady," exclaimed several voices.

"Thank you," said Walpurga, "my husband hasn't concluded the bargain
yet."

The hunter from Zell was there also, and Walpurga saw, at a glance,
that her husband was caught in a net of flatterers. She soon got out of
the room. The host and his wife showed her and Hansei through all the
rooms and the cellars. Walpurga found it all very good, but kept saying
that they would have to build and arrange everything anew.

"You're spoiled," said the innkeeper. "Here in the country, things are
different from what they are in your palace. You seem to forget that
one needn't drive a nail into this house for the next fifty years."
Walpurga would not permit herself to be drawn into any discussion of
the subject. On the way home, she remarked to her husband, that it
would be well to have the house examined by some one who knew all about
building matters, for neither of them understood anything about it, and
to make anything out of the innkeeper, was like drawing blood from a
stone.

Hansei was vexed that the bargain had not been concluded on the spot.
He felt as if he could not remain in the old house another hour.
Walpurga, on the other hand, wished to stave off the matter for a
while. Besides that, as Hansei was obliged to admit, she suggested many
points that required careful consideration.

That afternoon, Walpurga reckoned up all that belonged to her. It was a
handsome amount. There was almost enough to pay for the inn, with the
fields, meadows and woods belonging to it. One or two prosperous years
would enable them to clear off the mortgage which they might be obliged
to leave remaining on the property.

CHAPTER IV.

It was evening. The grandmother was in the room and, in a tremulous
voice, was singing her granddaughter to sleep. She, too, was singing
the song:

"Oh, blissful is the tender tie
That binds me, love, to thee."

Walpurga and Hansei were the only ones at the table, and he could
scarcely eat the potatoes as fast as she pared them. She would always
put the best and finest before him. "Just think of it, Hansei," said
she, looking so happy while she spoke; "the best things in the
world--sleep, sunlight, water, eggs, boiled potatoes and salt--are all
the same in the palace and in the cot