or out of the room, and was already
squaring his shoulders for the attack.

Motioning Kumpan to be silent, Sixtus told Hansei that, by the king's
orders, he had sought information in regard to him, and that it had
seemed as if the people did not know whom to praise the most--Hansei or
Walpurga. Hansei grinned self-complacently, and now Sixtus acquainted
him with the king's pleasure.

"Many thanks for the kind words," replied Hansei; "I'm much obliged to
the king for his good opinion of me. I know him well; I rowed him
across the lake twice while he was yet a merry lad, and a wide-awake
huntsman. Tell the king that I hadn't thought he'd still remember me,
but I can't part with my wife. I couldn't be so cruel to her, to
myself, and, above all, to our child."

It was the longest speech he had ever made. He wiped the perspiration
from his brow, and turned toward the table. He was as hungry as a wolf,
and, seeing the nicely cut cake, took a piece, exclaiming: "Before I do
it, may this morsel--"

"Don't swear!" cried the innkeeper, taking the cake from him. "Don't
swear; you can do as you please; no one can compel you."

"And no one wishes to," said Doctor Sixtus; "may I have a piece of
cake?"

"To be sure you may! Help yourself,--and you too, doctor! We've wine
also. Ah, doctor, this day two weeks ago, out on the road, things
looked very serious!"

There was eating and drinking, and with every morsel that Hansei
swallowed, his face grew more cheerful.

"It seems to me, Mr. Landlord, that you could explain the matter to him
better than we," said Sixtus. The innkeeper offered Hansei a pinch of
snuff, with the words: "It would be a great honor to the village and to
the whole neighborhood. Just think of it, Hansei! the king and the
crown prince--"

"Perhaps it's a princess," interrupted Sextus.

"Oh!" said Hansei laughing, "and so the child isn't born yet?" But
while laughing, he thought to himself: "There's still time to think the
matter over." Then he laughed again at the thought, for, with all his
simplicity, he was rogue enough to determine to reap the greatest
possible advantage from it; he couldn't think of such a thing for less
than a thousand--no, two thousand--and, who knows, perhaps even three
thousand florins. Hansei would probably have gone up to a hundred
thousand if the innkeeper had not resumed the conversation, and thus
interrupted the current of his thoughts.

"Hansei is perfectly right; he says n