ot scent of the plan in time, and amidst
hearty laughter prevented the bold idea from being put into execution.

Not only was stout little Rettel a clever housekeeper, a perfect cook,
and at the same time a pattern of good nature and childish affection
and fidelity, but like a well-trained child she also loved her father
very tenderly.

Now characters of Wacht's class, in spite of their earnestness, often
display a certain ironical waggishness which comes into play on easy
provocation, and lends an agreeable charm to life, just as the deep
brook greets with its silver curling waves the light breeze that skims
its surface.

It could not fail but that good Rettel's ways and doings frequently
provoked this sly humour; and so the relations between Wacht and his
daughter were invested with a curiously modified charm of colour. The
indulgent reader will come across instances later on; for the present
it may suffice to mention one such here, which certainly deserves
to be called entertaining. In Master Wacht's house there was a quiet,
good-looking young man, who held a post in the Prince's exchequer
office and drew a very good income. In straightforward German fashion
he sued the father for the hand of his elder daughter, and Master
Wacht, if he would not do an injustice to the young man as well as to
his Rettel, could not help but grant him permission to visit the house,
that he might have opportunities to try and win the girl's affections.
Rettel, informed of the man's purpose, received him with very friendly
looks, in which might be read at times, "At our wedding, dear, I shall
bake the cake myself."

Master Wacht, however, was not altogether well pleased with his
daughter's growing liking for the Herr Administrator of the Prince's
revenues, since the Herr Administrator himself didn't seem to him to be
all that he should be. In the first place, the man was as a matter of
course a Roman Catholic, and in the second place Wacht thought he
perceived in him on nearer acquaintance a certain sneaking
dissimulation of manner, which pointed to a mind ill at ease. He would
willingly have got the undesirable suitor out of the house again if he
could have done so without hurting Rettel's feelings. Master Wacht
observed him closely, and knew how to make shrewd and cunning use of
his observations. He perceived that the Herr Administrator did not set
much store by well-cooked dishes, but swallowed down everything in the
same indiscri