egret at parting
with such a treasure; so his eagerness arose in proportion.

"Can you swear to the truth of this?" asked the baron.

"I can!" said Kate, firmly.

Peter could contain himself no longer.

"Why, Kate! how can you----"

"Be quiet, father!" interrupted Catherine, again.

"He shall have his freedom," cried the baron, eagerly, "and the cup to
boot."

"We do not want the cup, my lord," answered wise Catherine.

"Yes, but we do!" cried Peter; for, as the prospect of his pardon
increased, respect for his daughter's wisdom diminished in direct ratio.

"You shall have it!" cried the baron; "release him, guards!"

"One thing more," said Catherine; "a proclamation must be issued stating
that you will never arrest my father again in connection with this
affair."

"It shall be done!" said the baron; upon which he dismissed them both with
the golden cup, which Peter had accepted in spite of his daughter's
protestations.

That same afternoon the proclamation was issued, and Catherine carried a
large gray goose to Castle Dunderhead.

"Father," said she, when she returned, "since you have accepted the golden
cup, you must leave this place, for the baron will always look enviously
upon you. Had you left it with him he would have paid no more attention to
you, but now it is different."

"Why so?" said Peter; "hasn't the baron given his promise that he will
never arrest me or mine again? And about that goose----"

[Illustration: "A PAGE WAS APPOINTED TO ESCORT IT."]

"Never mind the goose, father," interrupted Kate. "I say again that every
egg the goose lays _shall_ be of pure gold."

"Well, I'm sure I don't understand it," said Peter, testily; "and,
moreover, I am _not_ going to leave Kaboutermannekensburg. The idea of
_your_ trying to teach _me_ wisdom!"

"No, I could never do that," murmured Kate, with a sigh.

"No, I should think not, indeed!" said Peter, pompously.

The baron could not make enough of his goose. He had a splendid pen made
for it, of ebony inlaid with silver, the nest was of purest eider-down,
and a special page was appointed to escort it every morning to the water
and back. It was fed upon sweet herbs and sponge-cake; it grew enormously
fat; and, as time went on, its voice, its appetite, and its healthy
condition increased to an astonishing extent. Only one thing troubled the
baron, and that was it did not lay. Every day he himself went to the nest
expecting to find the much-looke