hem, saying: "Don't disturb yourselves, I'll not harm ye." And so
he went on plucking cherries, and looking straight before him for ever
so long.

Then the grandmother put her head out of the window and called to him:
"Hansei, your wife wants you."

He hurried down from the tree, and when he entered the room his wife
laughed at him heartily, for his lips were black and his face was
streaked with the juice of cherries.

"So you've been pilfering. Do leave a few cherries for me!"

"I'll bring the ladder into your room, so that I shant be able to go up
into the tree again," said he, and there was merry laughter in the
little cottage by the lake until the moon and stars looked down on it.
The lamp in the little chamber was kept burning all night. The mother
soon fell into a peaceful and happy slumber, and the Sunday child would
whimper at times, but was easily quieted.

The grandmother was the only one awake--she had merely feigned
sleep--and now sat on a footstool by the cradle of the new-born babe.

A bright star was shining overhead. It flickered and sparkled, and,
within the cottage, the face of the mother was resplendent with joy as
indescribable as the radiance of the star above. A child of man had
become mother of a child of man, and she who watched over them was the
one from whom both these lives had sprung. The soft air seemed laden
with song and the sounds of heavenly music, and the room itself, as if
thronged with fluttering, smiling cherubs.

The old grandmother sat there, resting her chin on her hand and gazing
at the star above, whose rays fell upon her face. She sat there with
bated breath, feeling as if transported into another world. The glory
of the Highest had descended upon the cottage, and, like a halo, now
encircled the head of the grandmother, Walpurga, and the infant.

"Mother! How brightly the stars are shining!" said Walpurga, awaking.

"Never fear, they'll keep on shining, even if you shut your eyes. Do go
to sleep again!" answered the grandmother.

And, until the day broke, all lay hushed in slumber.

CHAPTER IV.

Seated in an open carriage, Doctor Sixtus journeyed toward the
Highlands.

The doctor was a man of easy and winning address. While the present
king was yet the crown prince, he had accompanied him on his travels
and, in the society of nobles, had improved on the light and graceful
manner which he had acquired during a three years' sta