were
pleased to see him, and to talk to him; for, child as he was, Hans had
read a great many books, and could tell the most wonderful stories about
the Swedes in the Thirty Years' War, and also what happened in the long
wars between Frederic of Prussia and the Austrians--stories that, if
Hans were fond of telling, his audience were far more delighted to
listen to. This amusing gift, joined to the claims of infirmity--for he
was lame, the effect of a fall in his infancy--made him a favourite with
every one; for even they--and the number was a small one--who could
not relish his stores of narrative could feel compassion for the little
fatherless boy, bereft of the means of earning a livelihood, and wholly
dependent on one whose frail health gave little promise of long life.

Hans was tall and slight, and, but for his lameness, would haye been as
remarkable for the symmetry of his form, as, even with it, he was for
agility. His countenance was eminently handsome; the brow lofty, and the
eyes, which were of the darkest blue, were set deeply; their habitual
expression was one of great melancholy--not the sorrow of infirm health,
or the depression of a heart in conflict with itself, but the sadness of
a spirit too finely attuned for its daily associations--above,
immeasurably above, all around in its ambitions, and yet an object of
actual pity and compassion! The prevailing tone of his mind, though
sorrowful, did not prevent his joining the village children at their
play; nor was he, perhaps, the less welcome amongst them for those
strange fits of absence which, seizing him in the midst of some rural
sport, would make him forget all around, and burst out with some
exciting anecdote of heroic daring, some bold achievement of the
Austrians in their memorable battles with the Turks. Then, would the day
cease; gradually gathering around him, the children would form a circle,
soon to be strengthened by their elders, who took the most lively
pleasure in these recitals,--tales which many a setting sun and rising
moon shone upon.

It may have been remarked by the reader, that Hans' literary stores
were all military. Such was the case. Battles and sieges, campaigns and
marches, were a passion so exclusive, that he had no interest left for
any other form of reading. This may seem strange in one so young, and
in one, too, whose nature was gentleness itself; his very infirmity,
besides, might have turned his thoughts away from themes