o; it seemed as if his
heart would break when the master finally told them to let loose, that
they must start if they wanted to get there today, and it wouldn't be
the last time they were to see each other; but that now there was no
help for it. When they drove away the mistress kept wiping her eyes for
a long time, and had to comfort the children, who, it seemed, could not
stop weeping and lamenting.

In silence the two men drove over the gleaming snow. "Steady!" the
master had to say occasionally, when the wild Blazer struck into a
gallop, pulling the light sleigh along like the wind and kicking the
snow high in the air. "It distresses me," said Uli, "and more and more,
the nearer we get; it's so hard for me! I can't believe that I'm not
running into misfortune; it seems as if it was right ahead of me."

"That's natural," said the master, "and I wouldn't take that as a bad
omen. Think: nearly ten years ago, when you were a ne'er-do-well and I
started you going right, how hard it was for you to do better, and how
little faith you had in the possibility that everything would turn out
right. But still it did, gradually. Your faith got stronger, and now
you're a lad that can be said to have won his battle. So don't be
distressed; what you've got before you now is all the easier for it, and
the worst thing that can happen is that you'll come back to me in a
year. Just keep yourself straight and watch out, for my cousin is
terribly suspicious; but once he's taken your measure, you can put up
with him. You'll have the worst time with the other servants; go easy
with them, little by little, and in kindness as long as you can; then if
that's no good, speak right up so that you'll know where you are--I
wouldn't like a year of that sort of thing myself."

It was a bright, clear January day as they drove through handsome
fields, then between white fences and glittering trees, toward Slough
Farm. This property lay perhaps ten minutes' walk from Uefligen, was
over a hundred acres in size and very fruitful, but not all in one
piece; some fields and one grass-meadow lay at some distance. In wet
years it might be swampy in spots, but that could be managed. As they
drove up, Joggeli came stumping on a stick around the house, which stood
on rather low ground, and said that he had been looking for them for a
long time, and had almost thought they weren't coming; he had become
impatient. He shouted toward the barns, which were built aga