ELWEISS.
GERMAN TALES.
WALDFRIED.
THE CONVICTS AND THEIR CHILDREN.
LORLEY AND REINHARD.
ALOYS.
POET AND MERCHANT.
LANDOLIN.

LEISURE HOUR SERIES. No. 44.

* * * * *

LANDOLIN

BY
BERTHOLD AUERBACH
_Author of "On the Heights," "Waldfried," "Villa on the Rhine," etc._

TRANSLATED BY
ANNIE B. IRISH

NEW YORK:
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1878

Copyright
1878
By HENRY HOLT.

LANDOLIN.

* * * * *

CHAPTER I.

The spring has come again to the hills and valleys of our home. The day
awakes, a breeze moves strongly through the forest, as if its task were
to carry away the lingering night; the birds begin to twitter, and here
and there an early lark utters his note. Among the pine-trees, with
their fresh green needles, a whispering and rustling is heard. The sun
has risen above the mountaintop, and shines upon the valley; the fields
and meadows are glittering with dew. From the cherry-trees comes a
stream of fragrance, and the hawthorn hedges that blossomed in the
night are rejoicing in the first sunbeams, which penetrate to the very
heart of each floweret.

Down in the valley, where the logmen's rafts are floating rapidly--down
by the saw-mill, where the water dashes over the wheel, and the saw
sounds shrill--a young man with white forehead and sunburnt cheeks
opens a window, looks out, and nods gayly, as if greeting the awakening
day. Presently he appears on the doorstep; he opens his arms wide, as
if to embrace something; he smiles, as though looking at a happy, loved
face. Taking his soldier's cap from his head, and holding it in his
hand, he leaves the house; his step is firm, his bearing erect, and
sincere honesty and candor look from his eyes. He goes through the
meadows toward the forest-crowned hill, not stopping till he reaches
its summit. Pausing there, h