you are very tired."

And the good man slept until nine o'clock. The forester returning from his
rounds, uneasy at his non-appearance, went up to his room and wished him
good morning. Then seeing the sun high in the heavens, hearing the birds
warbling in the foliage, the Judge, ashamed of his boastfulness of the
previous night, arose, alleging as an excuse for his prolonged slumbers,
the fatigue of fishing and the length of the supper of the evening before.

"Ah, Monsieur Seiler," said the forester, "it is perfectly natural; I
would love dearly myself to sleep in the mornings, but I must always be on
the go. What I want is a son-in-law, a strong youth to replace me; I would
voluntarily give him my gun and my hunting pouch."

Zacharias could not restrain a feeling of great uneasiness at these words.
Being dressed, he descended in silence. Christine was waiting with his
breakfast; Charlotte had gone to the hay field.

The breakfast was short, and Mr. Seiler having thanked these good people
for their hospitality, turned his face toward Stantz; he became pensive,
as he thought of the worry to which Mademoiselle Therese had been
subjected; yet he was not able to tear his hopes from his heart, nor the
thousand charming illusions, which came to him like a latecomer in a nest
of warblers.

By Autumn he had fallen so into the habit of going to the forester's house
that he was oftener there than at his own; and the Head Forester, not
knowing to what love of fishing to attribute these visits, often found
himself embarrassed at being obliged to refuse the multiplicity of
presents which the worthy ex-magistrate (he himself being very much at
home) begged of him to accept in compensation for his daily hospitality.

Besides, Mr. Seiler wished to share all his occupations, following him in
his rounds in the Grinderwald and Entilbach.

Yeri Foerster often shook his head, saying: "I never knew a more honest or
better judge than Mr. Zacharias Seiler. When I used to bring my reports to
him, formerly, he always praised me, and it is to him that I owe my raise
to the rank of Head Forester. But," he added to his wife, "I am afraid the
poor man is a little out of his head. Did he not help Charlotte in the hay
field, to the infinite enjoyment of the peasants? Truly, Christine, it is
not right; but then I dare not say so to him, he is so much above us. Now
he wants me to accept a pension--and such a pension--one hundred florins a
month. A