d man of the
mountain? He may for once let his evil conscience be sung to sleep a
little."

He now began dancing, first alone, then with the hostess; and as the
noise soon got abroad, several men and girls walkt in, who were glad
to take part in this unexpected public ball. When the younger peasants
however also stood up, Conrad rusht suddenly upon them, shoved them
violently back, and imperiously commanded the musicians to be silent.

"When clod-hoppers and such scum mingle with their betters," he bawled
out, "one of us must retire from the foul contamination. But this I
tell you, the first of you that budges, or even growls, I'll break
every bone in his skin."

The peasants, whether alarmed by his drunken fury, or perhaps only
unwilling to incense him still more, drew back to their table. Conrad
seated himself, after all the victories he had achieved, majestically
in his armchair again, and rolled his eyes round with a look of
defiance. As nobody uttered a word, he said with a loud voice: "Look
ye, fellow miners, I am one of the oldest men about the works here
above; see here, comrades, and ye ragamuffins there, host and peasants
I mean, these dollars my prince and lord has gained from our pit."

He threw a handful of silver on the table.

"And old as I am, fellows, I was born and bred here in the mountains,
and I never yet crawled down into the vallies and the plain. I can
boast (and very few can say as much) I never yet saw any grain in the
field, never yet saw corn growing or ripe atop of its pitiful straw.
We work in gold and silver, are expert in mysteries and deep lore, hew
blocks, amalgamate metals, fuse ores,--and the miserable louts there
have to go about, as people have told me, hand and glove with rank
dung, and to carry the stinking stuff into the fields and spread it
out; and therefore I have a right to look upon their foul frocks as
scandalous and vile; at all events no miner should ever shake hands
with 'em, or drink out of the same mug. I am determined too to die a
man of honour, as I have grown old, without ever setting foot under
their thatch roofs, or on their threshing-floors; I have preserved
myself four and fifty years from this disgrace, and heaven will
continue to guard me from it while I live."

Thus he went on prating, till at length he was so stupefied and
exhausted that he fell asleep. The peasants, who now felt still
sorelier affronted than before, had more than once cast significan