They stood still not far from my
hiding-place, and one girl said, 'I will say good bye to you here;
thank you for your kindness, my mother in Heaven will reward you for
it. But it is all over; I cannot help myself. Oh! why are those days
gone by, when a wicked woman could transform you into a raven? I wish I
were that raven in the sky above our heads; then I could fly far away,
then my misery would be over. See! the snow is melting where my tears
fall on it; but nothing can melt a hard heart, and my father is
entirely changed.' Her tears prevented her saying more, and her
companion left her. The weeping girl turned back towards the mill; I
could not resist advancing to meet her, but I almost regretted it when
I saw such sorrow overclouding the young, fresh, blooming face. I would
gladly have tried to console her, but I really did not know what to
say; so I simply wished her good day. She looked at me, startled, and
stood still for a moment in surprise, and then went on her way."

"That must have been the Forest Miller's Tony," said the Pastorin; "a
good-hearted girl, as ever lived. She is to be betrothed to Adam, I
hear."

"That would be too shameful!" exclaimed Edward, indignantly.

"I quite agree with you. Tony is the Forest Miller's only child. Her
mother was an excellent woman: so long as she lived, the forest mill
was the most highly respected house in the whole community, and the
resort and refuge of all the poor. Little Tony went daily for four
years to school, three or four miles off, and in winter she came on a
donkey. A child like that, going daily alone for years through a
valley, encircled by rocks and by the forest, cannot fail to become
thoughtful and observant, if naturally of a quick and lively
disposition; for there is much to see and hear of animal life in the
forest, unknown to the world. Little Tony was a very quick child, and
she was often to be heard telling her thoughts aloud, and singing songs
in the forest. She has a most lovely voice. Two years ago her mother
died, and the guardian appointed by her father is the innkeeper at
Wenger, whose sister shortly after married the Forest Miller. From that
hour the girl had never another happy moment; and her guardian being
unluckily the brother of her stepmother, it comes to pass that Tony
will be forced to marry Adam Roettmann."

Suddenly the Pastorin interrupted herself, saying, "I must surely have
left the house door open, for I hear some one on