no one, and
looked up astonished when the men and maid-servants sang as they went
about their tasks. Her face said plainly: "They can sing, they have no
father in prison."

It was a bright summer morning. The farmer's wife was up before day,
for she wanted to see Tobias and Peter before they drove to the city.

After the servants who remained at home had eaten their breakfast, and
the dishes had been cleared away, she still sat at the table, in the
so-called "Herrgott's Corner." Her hands were folded on the table
before her. She gazed at them wearily and sadly.

On a bench, beside the large stove in which there was no fire to-day,
sat Thoma at her spinning. Nothing could be heard but the low whirring
of the wheel, and the ticking of the clock on the wall.

"Thoma," at length began her mother, "you're right in not going to the
field to-day. My feet feel as though they had given way. Say, is to-day
Wednesday or Thursday? I don't know any more----"

"To-day is Thursday, the tenth of July, mother."

"And he is in court, on trial for his life. Look and see what saint's
day this is."

"The calendar is hanging right behind you."

The farmer's wife seemed not to care to turn or look around. She rubbed
her hands hastily over her head, as though to keep her hair from rising
on end, and said, as if speaking her thoughts aloud:

"So many people! I see them all, one after another, just as they
were when I was a little child, and they beheaded Laurian, on the
city-green."

"Mother! Don't talk so. We must control our feelings, whichever way
things turn out."

"What! Can it turn out any other way?"

"Who knows? That is what the trial is for."

"Surely there must be compassionate and just men there, who will have
pity. There are many who rejoice in our misfortune, but there are more
who mean well by us. Your Anton will testify for your father, and will
pledge his medal of honor for him."

"More than that," added Thoma; but she did not explain what she meant.

Will Anton persist in saying that he saw what her father told him he
did? Does he really believe that he saw it in that way? or will he ruin
his own life in order to save another's? She compressed her lips
tightly. She thought she must scream out for pain.

But her mother seemed to find it necessary to express her thoughts; and
again she murmured, half aloud:

"What are the servants talking about, to-day? I am ashamed to go among
them, and I dare not say a wo