rough the dead hours of the night
a silent watcher sat at the closed hut door. It was no other than
Moro: he had, as usual, attended Moidel to the spot and noticed
the proceedings. This she remembered clearly afterward, when in the
morning, returning to her labors, he greeted her half reproachfully
yet full of affection, as much as to say he had been quietly
rectifying any short-comings on her part. All that day, whilst the
industrious _grummelfuhr_ hackled and received good cheer in the form
of krapfen, for hackling is hard work, Moro attended in the character
of a kind but strict overseer. Let us hope that when the fairies
sat spinning in the stube in the twilight between last Christmas and
Epiphany they amply rewarded Moro with an unlimited supply of magic
bones, for did he not to the best of his ability help to make the flax
"white as chalk, soft as silk and long as the ship's sail"?

A mild excitement reigned in the Hof about the return of the cattle,
and it was confided to us that Jakob greatly hoped that we should
still be at Edelsheim to witness the triumphal entry. The bitter cold
and rain, however, whilst it made it a necessity for us to leave,
impeded the downward journey from the Eder Olm, which was still
further retarded by Zottel, the new queen, not taking as cleverly to
her dignity as Jakob had in the first instance fondly imagined.

Thus, there was nothing for it but to fix the day of departure,
besides having in readiness the parting gifts and surprises intended
for each member of the worthy family. Such farewell occupations had,
however, been long in progress, for it required great management,
labor and forethought to hit on the right thing, and have it
ready, with only the resources of a very small town. The handsome
chromo-lithographs had been smuggled to the stationer's, and framed
for the embellishment of the great sitting-room; the snuff-box for the
Hofbauer the pipe and beer-mug for Onkel Johann, the satin kerchiefs
for Kathi and Moidel, were all ready and ticketed; so were the
neckties and tobacco-pouches for Anton and Jakob, when a bright idea
struck E----. She would subscribe for the illustrated _Alpenfreund_,
to afford reading in the stube in the long snowy winter evenings.
There was no time to be lost: the next day we were leaving; so, the
rain having ceased, we started for the town to pay the subscription.

We knew that it was two o'clock as we crossed the fields, by the bell
of the Capu