u be betrothed?"

"It is just now Advent, and our priest will not marry us; but on the
first Sunday after the Three Kings we shall have the wedding. I am not
at all annoyed at the delay, for I have to get together a little
money. When a man marries he must have all sorts of things--furniture
and the like; and something for the cold winter into the bargain."

"And have you put by nothing out of your wages?"

"Yes, sir; I had over a hundred and fifty gulden laid by. I had spared
everything on myself--food and drink, and even the pipe--and I had got
together this sum. Then what should the devil do but bring the
recruiting commission down here, and I had to give all my money into
the greasy palm of the examining doctor, so that he might report me as
being unfit for service because I squinted. It's a trick I have. I can
squint for a quarter of an hour together, although my eyes are
straight; on this account I shall be let off by the doctor, but my
hundred and fifty gulden are gone. I shall have to squint at the
marriage ceremony, for the priest only marries me because I am unfit
for service."

"Well, Peter, you may count upon some help from me."

"Thank you, sir, but I don't like loans; that is like eating one's
supper at dinner."

By this time they had reached the place where the strangers were
waiting.

"Ah," cried Ivan, "so it is you, Felix!" and he held out his hand
cordially to the visitor.

The old acquaintance whom Ivan called Felix looked as if he belonged
to another generation. His soft complexion, carefully waxed mustache,
short imperial, his fine, dark-blue eyes, and particularly the shape
of his head, and the way it was placed on his shoulders, taken
together with his elegant dress, which the rough miner's blouse could
not quite conceal, betrayed the man of the world. When he spoke, his
voice was almost womanly; the tone was clear and high, like one of the
Pope's choir.

Felix hastened at once to put his friend's mind at ease upon a
necessary part of his visit.

"I hope you will forgive our putting up at the inn. I was sure you
would have made us welcome, but you are a busy man, and you would not
care to be at the bother of entertaining us; besides, like all men of
business, you are, I dare say, a little in the rough, and the inn is
really very comfortable. May I introduce you to my travelling
companion, Gustav Raune? He is a mine-surveyor and engineer."

Ivan was well pleased at his friend's foret