greet you, Hansei!'"

"I can't do that, mother; indeed, I can't."

"But I tell you you must be able to do it, or else you're not a true
wife and mother, and every piece of gold you've brought home with you
will be as if a fiery demon were lurking in it. You promised to obey
me, and at the very start you refuse."

"Yes, mother; I'll try my best."

"Well, then, good-night," said the mother, and returned to her room.

Walpurga lay there in silence. Anger and sorrow kept her awake. Her
child had become estranged from her, her husband had acquired bad
habits and preferred the society of his comrades to hers. For whose
sake had she imposed the heavy burden upon herself? For whose sake had
she gone among strangers to earn all that she had brought home with
her, and for whom had she kept herself so pure? She wet her pillow with
bitter tears. But suddenly an inner voice said to her: "Do you mean to
take credit to yourself for having been honest? Were you honest for
yourself, or for others? and weren't they obliged to suffer, too, in
taking everything upon themselves? Oughtn't you to thank God that they
didn't die of grief?--Yes, that was all very well; but now they ought
to be heartily glad and grateful--I can't expect it of the child, for
that's too young to know; but my husband--he has sense enough when he
feels like it. And have I gained all this only to be a hostess to the
whole world? No, I've earned it, and I've a right--For God's sake! A
right? There's the trouble. When the one always insists upon claiming
his rights from the other, it's just like hell itself--I don't want any
rights; I've got no rights; I want nothing at all. All I wish is to be
an obedient wife and a good mother--Dear Lord, assist me if I'm not
one."

Heavy steps were heard approaching. Hansei entered and, with cheerful
voice, Walpurga exclaimed: "God greet you, Hansei! I'm glad that you've
found me still awake."

"I've won the bet! I've won it!" exclaimed Hansei with a loud voice.
"There's two men standing out there under the window. We had a wager
together and I've won six measures of wine from them. They said that
the best proof of a wife is the way she receives her husband when he
returns from the tavern, or when he awakes her out of her sleep. I told
them: 'I know my wife. When I get home, she'll be kind and friendly to
me.' But they wouldn't believe a word of it. And so we've had a wager,
and I've won it; and if all the wine in the whole w