"If he was, neighbor, all the gold was lost and buried long ago."

"Not a bit of it!" rejoined Hans. "Didn't I hear the gold ring this very
instant? The lad has gold in his mouth, I say! Give him to me, and you
shall see it before night."

She looked up reproachfully, the tears fairly falling at what she
thought such a cruel mockery from Hans, who knew her poverty, and had
never had from her or hers the rough words he was too used to from every
one.

"The golden days are over for me," was all she said.

"Nay! They have yet to begin," he replied. "Your Berthold left more
debtors than you know, Frau Magdalis. And old Hans is one of them. And
Hans never forgets a debt, black or white. Let the lad come with me, I
say. I know the choir-master at the cathedral. And I know he wants a
fine high treble just such as thy Gottlieb's, and will give anything for
it. For if he does not find one, the Cistercians at the new convent will
draw away all the people, and we shall have no money for the new organ.
They have a young Italian, who sings like an angel, there; and the young
archduchess is an Italian, and is wild about music, and lavishes her
gifts wherever she finds it good."

Magdalis looked perplexed and troubled.

"To sell the child's voice seems like selling part of himself,
neighbor," she said at length; "and to sell God's praises seems like
selling one's own soul."

"Well, well! Those are thy proud burgher notions," said Hans, a little
nettled. "If the Heavenly Father pleases to give thee and the little
ones a few crumbs for singing His matins and evensong, it is no more
than He does for the robins, or, for that matter, for the very ravens,
such as me, that croak to Him with the best voice they have."

At these words, Gottlieb, who had been listening very attentively,
gently set little Lenichen down, and, drawing close to Hans, put his
little hand confidingly in his.

"I will go with neighbor Hans, mother!" he said, decisively. "The dear
Lord himself has sent him."

"Thou speakest like a prophet," said the mother, smiling tenderly at his
oracular manner, "a prophet and a king in one. Hast thou had a vision?
Is thy will indeed the law of the land?"

"Yes, mother," he said, coloring, "the dear Lord Jesus has made it quite
plain. I asked Him, if we were not good enough for Him to send us an
angel, to send us one of His ravens, and He has sent us Hans!"

Hans laughed, but not the grim, hoarse laugh which was hab