versaries together, accompanying every
knock with an interjection, "There, my boys--that for the knife--and
that for the back-spring--and that for the heifer!" And who knows how
long this strange litany would have continued, if he had not been
interrupted by a loud call.

"Wachis! Cacus! let loose, I tell you," cried the strong fall voice of
a woman; and a stately matron, clad in a blue Gothic garment, appeared
at the door.

She was not tall, and yet imposing. Her fine figure was more sturdy
than slender. Her gold-brown hair was bound in simple but rich braids
round her head; her features were regular; more firm than delicate.

An expression of sincerity, worth, and trustfulness lay in her large
blue eyes. Her round bare arms showed that she was no stranger to work.
At her broad girdle, over which puffed out her brown under-garment of
home-spun cloth, rattled a bunch of keys; she rested her left hand
quietly upon her hip, and stretched her right commandingly before her.

"Aye, aye, Rauthgundis, mistress mine," said Wachis, letting loose,
"must you have your eyes everywhere?"

"Everywhere, when my servants are at mischief. When will you learn to
agree? You Italians need a master in the house. But thou, Wachis,
shouldst not vex the housewife too. Come, Athalwin, come with me."

And she led the boy away.

She went into a side-yard, filled her raised skirt with grain out of a
trough, and fed the fowls and pigeons, which immediately flocked around
her.

For a little while Athalwin watched her silently. At last he said:

"Mother, is it true? Is father a robber?"

Rauthgundis suspended her occupation, and looked at the child in
surprise.

"Who said so?"

"Who? Eh, the nephew of Calpurnius! We were playing on the great heap
of hay in his meadow, and I showed him how far the land belongs to us
on the right of the hedge--far and wide--as far as our servants were
mowing, and the brook shone in the distance. Then he got angry and
said, 'Yes, and all that land once belonged to us, and thy father or
thy grandfather stole it, the robbers!'"

"Indeed! And what didst thou reply?"

"Eh, nothing at all, mother. I only threw him over the hay-cock, with
his heels in the air. But now I should like to know if it is true."

"No, child, it is not true. Your father did not steal it, but took it
openly, because he was stronger and better than these Italians. And
heroes have done the same in all ages. And when the Italians were