me."

"I don't want to interfere with you. You're father and husband."

"A fine husband, indeed, whose wife leaves him for a year."

"Perhaps she's having a harder time of it than you."

"May be so; but she has pleasure and enjoyment, and what have I? I
wander about as if lost, and that's why I'm not ashamed. The best thing
left me is the tavern. One can feel at home there, when he can't in his
own house. I don't need to cut or haul wood any longer, and I want to
have some good of my wife's being--"

Hansei could not finish what he was about to say, for, at that moment,
the door opened and Zenza entered.

"What are you doing here? Who sent for you?" inquired the grandmother
of Zenza, who replied:

"Good-morning to you--I didn't come to see you; I want to see this man.
Who's master here? you or he?"

"Speak out; what's the matter?" said Hansei, winking at his
mother-in-law.

"I was to bring you the smith's compliments and tell you that the gun's
ready for you, at his workshop."

"And so you're going to be a sportsman?" inquired the grandmother; "are
you going a-hunting?"

"I suppose I'll have to go if you don't carry me," replied Hansei,
laughing loudly at his joke.

The grandmother left the room, slamming the door after her. As nimbly
as a cat, Zenza sprang toward Hansei and said:

"She'll wait for you up there, at dusk." Then, in a loud voice, she
added: "God keep you, Hansei," and left the house.

The grandmother went out to the woodcutter and told him that he mustn't
think they were used to having such wicked people as Zenza come to the
house; but that, no matter how often they forbade her coming, she would
force herself upon them, in order to show her gratitude for Walpurga's
having procured the pardon of her son Thomas. It had been a foolish
action; for Red Thomas would have been much better taken care of under
lock and key. But Walpurga had meant it for the best. The woodcutter
was satisfied; he well knew that it was a respectable house, and it was
quite by accident that he remarked: "I wonder why Zenza's without Black
Esther. They're generally together in the daytime."

The grandmother's eyes flashed when she heard his words. She bent down
hurriedly, took up an armful of wood and carried it up to the house.
When she reached the gable side, she found Hansei there, piling up the
wood and whistling cheerfully. The grandmother kept on carrying wood,
while Hansei piled it up, neither of them speaki