ld all, they might suspect the
father of--"

Hans flushed angrily.

"They would not DARE to say such a thing, Mother! If they did, I'd..."

He clenched his fist and seemed to think that the rest of his sentence
was too terrible to utter in her presence.

Dame Brinker smiled proudly through her tears at this interruption.

"Ah, Hans, thou'rt a true, brave lad. We will never part company with
the watch. In his dying hour the dear father might wake and ask for it."

"Might WAKE, Mother!" echoed Hans. "Wake--and know us?"

"Aye, child," almost whispered his mother, "such things have been."

By this time Hans had nearly forgotten his proposed errand to Amsterdam.
His mother had seldom spoken so familiarly to him. He felt himself now
to be not only her son, but her friend, her adviser:

"You are right, Mother. We must never give up the watch. For the
father's sake we will guard it always. The money, though, may come to
light when we least expect it."

"Never!" cried Dame Brinker, taking the last stitch from her needle with
a jerk and laying the unfinished knitting heavily upon her lap. "There
is no chance! One thousand guilders--and all gone in a day! One thousand
guilders. Oh, what ever DID become of them? If they went in an evil way,
the thief would have confessed it on his dying bed. He would not dare to
die with such guilt on his soul!"

"He may not be dead yet," said Hans soothingly. "Any day we may hear of
him."

"Ah, child," she said in a changed tone, "what thief would ever have
come HERE? It was always neat and clean, thank God, but not fine, for
the father and I saved and saved that we might have something laid
by. 'Little and often soon fills the pouch.' We found it so, in truth.
Besides, the father had a goodly sum already, for service done to the
Heernocht lands, at the time of the great inundation. Every week we had
a guilder left over, sometimes more; for the father worked extra hours
and could get high pay for his labor. Every Saturday night we put
something by, except the time when you had the fever, Hans, and when
Gretel came. At last the pouch grew so full that I mended an old
stocking and commenced again. Now that I look back, it seems that the
money was up to the heel in a few sunny weeks. There was great pay in
those days if a man was quick at engineer work. The stocking went on
filling with copper and silver--aye, and gold. You may well open your
eyes, Gretel. I used to laugh and tell the