and yet who would do so much
evil."

I had never looked at it in that light before.

"It seems to me, Gretchen," I said quietly, "that you are about as much
a barmaid as I am a weeder of knoblauches."

The color of excitement fled from Gretchen's cheeks, her eyes grew
troubled and she looked away.

"Gretchen has a secret," said I. "It is nothing to me what Gretchen's
secret is; I shall respect it, and continue to think of her only as a
barmaid with--with a superior education." I shouldered the hoe.
"Come, let us go back; I'm thirsty."

"Thank you, Herr," was the soft reply. Then Gretchen became as dumb,
and our return to the inn was made in silence. Once there, however,
she recovered. "I am sorry to have put you at such a disadvantage,"
glancing at my clothes, which were covered with brown earth.

"Let that be the least of your troubles!" I cried gayly. Then I hummed
in English:

So, ho! dear Gretchen, winsome lass,
I want no tricky wine,
But amber nectar bring to me,
Whose rich bouquet will cling to me,
Whose spirit voice will sing to me
From out the mug divine
So, here's your toll--a kiss--away,
You Hebe of the Rhine!
No goblet's gold means cheer to me,
Let no cut glass get near to me--
Go, Gretchen, haste the beer to me,
And put it in the stein!

I thought I saw a smile on her lips, but it was gone before I was
certain.

"Gott in Himmel!" gasped the astonished innkeeper, as I went into the
barroom. I still had the hoe over my shoulder.

"Never mind, mein host. I've been weeding your knoblauch patch as a
method of killing time."

"But--" He looked at Gretchen in dismay.

"It was I who led him there," said Gretchen, in answer to his inquiring
eyes.

A significant glance passed between them. There was a question in his,
a command in hers. I pretended to be examining the faded tints in the
stein I held in my hand.

I was thinking: "Since when has an innkeeper waited on the wishes of
his barmaid?"

There was a mystery after all.

CHAPTER IX

I took my pipe and strolled along the river bank. What had I stumbled
into? Here was an old inn, with rather a feudal air; but it was only
one in a thousand; a common feature throughout the Continent. And yet,
why had the gods, when they cast out Hebe, chosen this particular inn
for her mortal residence? The pipe solves many riddles, and then,
sometimes, it creates a density. I put my pipe into my