t out of the way if he could--perhaps he may manage it
yet.

But no. Gertrude herself opens the door.

"Uncle Henry," she said, pleadingly.

And he comes in and behaves exactly as if nothing had ever happened. It
is the purest selfishness on his part. Scenes don't agree with him.

"I wanted just to see how you were--you seem to have had a nice little
fire," he begins.

"Thank God! No lives were lost," said Linden, "and no cattle were
burnt; the crops are all destroyed, it is true; but in place of that a
new life has risen out of the ashes." And he held out his sound hand to
Gertrude.

"Oh, ta, ta!" murmured Uncle Henry, helping himself hurriedly to ham
and to butter. "I tell you, children, travelling is a great deal too
hard work, and if it were not for the lobsters in Heligoland and the
eel-soup in Hamburg, then--but, Gertrude, you are laughing and crying
at the same time! Well, well, I am glad to be home again; there is
nothing like home, after all, and with your permission, I will drink
this glass of good port wine to your health and to the peace and
prosperity of your household."

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Gertrude's Marriage, by W. Heimburg

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GERTRUDE'S MARRIAGE ***

***** This file should be named 32442.txt or 32442.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/4/4/32442/

Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given