nd that my craft went no further than
seeking for the material which your genius was to fashion."

"Genius, Kate!" exclaimed Ellen, laughing. "Has Master Hans been giving
you a lesson in flattery; but tell me of your success which has he
taken?"

"All everything!" cried Kate; "for although at the beginning the little
fellow would select one figure and then change it for another, it was
easy to see that he could not bring himself to part with any of them:
now sitting down in rapture before the 'Travelling Student,' now gazing
delightedly at the 'Charcoal-Burners,' but all his warmest enthusiasm
bursting forth as I produced the 'Forest Maiden at the Well.' He did,
indeed, think the 'Pedler' too handsome, but he found no such fault
with the Maiden: and here, dearest, here are the proceeds, for I told
him that we must have ducats in shining gold for Frank's new crimson
purse; and here they are;" and she held up a purse of gay colors,
through whose meshes the bright metal glittered.

"Poor Hans!" said Ellen, feelingly. "It is seldom that so humble an
artist meets so generous a patron."

"He's coming to-night," said Kate, as she smoothed down the braids of
her glossy hair before a little glass, "he's coming to say good-bye to
Frank."

"He is so fond of Frank."

"And of Frank's sister Nelly; nay, no blushing, dearest; for myself,
I am free to own admiration never comes amiss, even when offered by as
humble a creature as the dwarf, Hans Roeckle."

"For shame, Kate, for shame! It is this idle vanity that stifles honest
pride, as rank weeds destroy the soil for wholesome plants to live in."

"It is very well for you, Nelly, to talk of pride, but poor things like
myself are fain to content themselves with the baser metal, and even put
up with vanity! There, now, no sermons, no seriousness; I'll listen
to nothing to-day that savors of sadness, and, as I hear pa and Frank
laughing, I'll be of the party."

The glance of affection and admiration which Ellen bestowed upon her
sister was not unmixed with an expression of painful anxiety, and the
sigh that escaped her told with what tender interest she watched over
her.

The little dinner, prepared with more than usual care, at length
appeared, and the family sat around the humble board with a sense of
happiness dashed by one only reflection, that on the morrow Frank's
place would be vacant.

Still each exerted himself to overcome the sadness of that thought, or
even to da