Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 6, 2025
She liked him for his independence and taciturnity. Moreover, in the old days of starving poverty, Wastei had done her many a good service she had never been able to reward, and had brought many a plump hare and many a brace of quails to the empty larder, swearing that he had come by them honestly, and offering to exchange them for a little mending to his tattered clothes.
And Wastei brought me the letter yesterday, and the coat to-day. That is the whole history. 'Where is it the letter? asked Hilda in an anxious tone. Berbel unlocked her little deal chest and withdrew the precious document, which she put into Hilda's hand. Hilda turned it over and over, and looked from it to the coat, and back again to the sealed envelope, reading the address again and again.
'Nonsense! ejaculated Wastei, who was visibly affected by the speech. 'God greet you, Frau Berbel! he added, turning away abruptly and leaving her standing alone in the court. Berbel looked after him for a few seconds, and there was an unusually tender expression in her sharp eyes, as she watched his retreating figure.
'You see, the truth is best for people who have anything to lose. 'Fie, Wastei! exclaimed Berbel, half inclined to smile at his odd philosophy, but unwilling to let him see that she could appreciate a jest upon so moral a subject. 'It is true, Frau Berbel.
'Put away the coat, Berbel, she said after a pause. 'He will not need to see it when he has read the letter, and it would hurt him, as it hurts me. 'Shall I give it back to Wastei? inquired Berbel, folding it up. 'No, oh no! Put it away carefully where it will be safe, but where no one will ever see it again. 'Wastei gave twenty marks for it, observed Berbel.
You see it looks likely, because the Jew would have waited at least a year before trying to sell it, for fear of being caught. 'That is true, said Berbel thoughtfully. 'I would not have told the story to any one else, observed Wastei. 'But as you know everything, you may as well know this too. 'What? Is there anything more? 'Nothing particular, answered Wastei.
And I said to myself, Wastei, you're a brave fellow, and you shall starve to death rather than use the gold which is the price of bad news; but if the son of the old wolf gets well, and marries Frau Berbel's young lady, and if the good God sends them a boy, then, Wastei, you shall go and get the gold piece and spend it at the christening.
She took the envelope with a great show of indifference and looked attentively at the superscription. 'Is it what I thought? inquired Wastei. 'To my son Greif. That is what is written on it. 'It is like the old wolf's manner, said the other. 'He might have said Greifenstein at least. But I suppose the devil was in a hurry and could not wait for him to write it out.
'You put the house before the wife, I see, remarked Berbel. 'Because if I had a good house I could have the good wife fast enough. Wastei is not so dull as he looks. He has looked about him in the world. Ay, Frau Berbel, now if you were thinking of being married and had your choice of two men, would you choose the one with a house or the one without?
'It is true it is Wastei. Unless he is mistaken himself there can be no doubt, then. But it is all so strange! It was stranger still, perhaps, that Wastei's name should be enough to dispel in Hilda's mind all doubts as to the truth of the story, and yet she would have believed the wild, kind-hearted free-shot sooner than many a respectable member of society.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking