ttle farther on. My
grandfather and my father and I, we have all tilled these acres, my
furrow following theirs. All the three names are on the garden bench,
two Killians and one Johann. Yes, sir, good men have prepared themselves
for the great change in my old garden. Well do I mind my father, in a
woollen night-cap, the good soul, going round and round to see the last
of it. 'Killian,' said he, 'do you see the smoke of my tobacco? Why,'
said he, 'that is man's life.' It was his last pipe, and I believe he
knew it; and it was a strange thing, without doubt, to leave the trees
that he had planted, and the son that he had begotten, ay, sir, and even
the old pipe with the Turk's head that he had smoked since he was a lad
and went a-courting. But here we have no continuing city; and as for the
eternal, it's a comfortable thought that we have other merits than our
own. And yet you would hardly think how sore it goes against the grain
with me, to die in a strange bed.'

'And must you do so? For what reason?' Otto asked.

'The reason? The place is to be sold; three thousand crowns,' replied
Mr. Gottesheim. 'Had it been a third of that, I may say without boasting
that, what with my credit and my savings, I could have met the sum. But
at three thousand, unless I have singular good fortune and the new
proprietor continues me in office, there is nothing left me but to
budge.'

Otto's fancy for the place redoubled at the news, and became joined with
other feelings. If all he heard were true, Grunewald was growing very
hot for a sovereign Prince; it might be well to have a refuge; and if so,
what more delightful hermitage could man imagine? Mr. Gottesheim,
besides, had touched his sympathies. Every man loves in his soul to play
the part of the stage deity. And to step down to the aid of the old
farmer, who had so roughly handled him in talk, was the ideal of a Fair
Revenge. Otto's thoughts brightened at the prospect, and he began to
regard himself with a renewed respect.

'I can find you, I believe, a purchaser,' he said, 'and one who would
continue to avail himself of your skill.'

'Can you, sir, indeed?' said the old man. 'Well, I shall be heartily
obliged; for I begin to find a man may practise resignation all his days,
as he takes physic, and not come to like it in the end.'

'If you will have the papers drawn, you may even burthen the purchase
with your interest,' said Otto. 'Let it be assured to you