The Goose Girl

a prosperous tavern of the second rate. The house was two hun

had been a widow for many a day, for the novelty of being her own manager had not yet worn off. She was thirty-eight, plump, pretty in a free-hand manner, and wise. It

ry the best man living. I can add the ac

e is the nat

aving recrossed it, never again shall I go ba

and when a day went by without a proposal, she went to bed

tresses, and this preference was shared by her patrons. They were quicker, cleaner; they remembered an order better; they were not always surreptitiously emptying the dregs of tankards on the way to the bar, as men invariably did. Besides, the barmaid was an English institution, and the Fr?u-Wirtin greatly admired that race, though n

ommissioned officers-for the fall maneuvers brought many to Dreiberg-farmers and their families, and the men of the locality who made the Black Eagle a kind of socialist club. Socialism was jus

aytime, the change consisting of coarse stockings and s

Wirtin, for a little whi

Half a cro

e half-crowns were fine things to pick up occasionally, for

g all who came in. His face brightened as he saw the goose-girl; he would have known that head anywhere

an in tatters and patches, the mountaineer who possessed a Swiss watch and gave golden coins to goose-gi

a visitor at the Black Eagle. The beer was sweet and cool. So, having pocketed his papers, he was of a mind to carry on a bit of

ning, Fr?

nly person who ever caused her embarrassment, even though temporary. There was always a whimsical smile on h

en't aged the least s

day before

rther back

an

Carmichael's eyes roved in search

ured suddenly. "Is Gretch

She's a good girl and I'm glad

ect having seen

se you rarely

hich steamed a vegetable stew.

ndicating the vacant chair. "Will you b

nce,

had not recognized the vintner, but now he remembered. He

r?" he asked pleasantly, with h

e answer. The vintner turned back t

orderly and hungry. They ate and drank like persons whose consciences were not overburdened. From the corner of his eye he observed that the vintner was

tankard which she sat do

join me, Her

d the vintner, w

smiled at him. Carmichael sm

l you be

said th

ched the dim bar, then their glances swung round and met. Carmichael was first to speak, not becau

a fine

tenta

omest peasant I e

ere was a spark in

nterests me." Carmichael pr

terests you gentlemen." There was a note of

her is not of the order you would infer. She is good and patient and brave, and my intere

e vintner was p

ou seem to possess a

that right," with an air whic

do not recollect seeing you

and there is plenty of work here

arn how to press it as they do in France. It is w

dily. "Do you think there will

smic malady; it will always be. It may be beat

fond of

er

k it wise to

n consul; nobody

consul," repea

and out among the clustering tables. She set the t

bother about

asked soberly. "Do you never

ans rich?" she

are in our Su

y." Gretchen shoo

ly four coppers t

Gretchen looked into his eyes, a

my memory! It never failed me like this before. I would give twenty crowns to know where I have seen him. It's o

ed him. Could a man with hands like these mean well toward Gretchen? He was a thorough man of the world; he knew innoence at first glance, and Gretchen was both innocent and unworldly. To the right man she might be easy prey. Never to a man like Colonel von Wallenstein, whose power and high office were alike sinister to any girl of the peasantry

r duties. There was something reluctant in her step, in t

e man a good wife,

scowled at

ght Carmichael. Aloud he said

ow

to be a queen, and yet she i

sant is always suspicious of

in olden times," Carmichael explained. He had se

he vintner nodded;

e rested on the vintner's ha

appened

spilled wine on a god one

ve been a r

familiar with all

is a fine

t erect in his chair, but

ave se

hould like the army." The vintner reach

d Carmichael, of

bacco, I know." The v

and hidden in these questions were a dozen clever traps. But the other walke

uzzling to Carmichael. This frugality was purely of the thrifty peasant. But the vintner was not ungrateful, and he expr

United States, which is safe enough as a wager, that this fellow is not genuine. I'll watch him. I've stumbled upon a pretty romance of some so

er the manner of the carter. It was only when the dusty baker came along and repeated this procedure, preserving the same silence, that Carmichael's curiosity was enlivened. This curiosity, however, was only of the evanescent order. Undoubtedly they were socialists and this was a little conclave, and the peculiar manner of their mee

e slips stolidly; he would have seen the mountaineer wave his hand sharply and the trio rise and disperse. And perhaps it would have been well for him to have noted these singular manifestations

mountaineer was startled out of his habitual reserve, but he recovered his composure almost instantly. The clock-mender, his heavy glasses hanging crookedly on his nose, his whole aspect that of a weary, broken man, took down his pail and shuffle

back into the shadow, while the moisture from his br