hat it was difficult to
hold it in check. Irma recognized it. It was Pluto, her own horse; and
so it had been captured and brought back again. If the horse could have
spoken, it would have said: "Here is my mistress; here is the one whom
you seek."

Irma could hear Baum asking the uncle:

"Did you meet a young lady in a blue riding-habit?"

"No."

"Did you hear any one mention such a person?"

"Not a word."

"Whom have you in the wagon there?"

Irma trembled. Walpurga grasped her hand. It was as cold as ice. The
child cried again.

"You can hear it; there's a little child in there," said the forester
to Baum. "Let's go on."

The horseman rode off, and Irma, looking after them, could see her
feathered hat hanging from the pommel of the saddle.

The wagon slowly ascended the hill, while the horsemen hurried off in
the opposite direction.

Irma kissed the child, and said:

"Oh you darling! you've saved me, for the second time. Let roe get out,
too. I want to walk."

The mother dissuaded her and begged her to remain with her. Irma
yielded; she had hardly lain down before she fell asleep again, and no
longer knew that she was crossing the mountains in a farmer's wagon.

It was already past noon when they overtook Hansei, far up the
mountain, where he had stopped to rest his horses.

"Let's keep together," said he. His anger had vanished, and he now was
twice as kindly as before. "I think we oughtn't to enter our new home
in such a straggling way. I've given the servants strict orders to
drive slowly. We can easily catch up with 'em, for our wagons are
light, and then we'll all be together. I want mother and wife and child
to be with me when we enter on the farm."

"That's right! I'm glad you've come to your senses again. Oh! I know
you. When you're excited, the only thing to do is to leave you alone
for a little while, and you soon get homesick after your folks and the
good Hansei that's in you; and then you're all right again. But come
here. I want to tell you something. To-day, you'll have to prove
whether you're a real, strong man; and if you do, I'll never, in all my
life, deny that men are stronger than we."

"Well! what is it?"

She led him into the inn garden, and said:

"You've often heard tell of the household fairies they used to have in
olden times? They were good, peaceful spirits that brought blessings
and wealth and good fortune to whatever house they visited. But there
was one condit