or, The Silver Skates 59

the landlord cutting up the merchant’s children. ‘There was
no need of his hurrying, you know, for he was a saint; but in
the morning he went to the inn, and charged the landlord with
the murder. Then the wicked landlord confessed it from
beginning to end, and fell down on his knees, begging forgive-
ness. He felt so sorry for what he had done, that he asked the
saint to bring the young masters to life.”

“ And did the saint do it?” asked Gretel, delighted, well
knowing what the answer would be.

“Of course he did. The pickled pieces flew together in a
flash, and out jumped the young gentlemen from the brine-tub.
They cast themselves at the feet of St. Nicholas, and he gave
them his blessing and — oh mercy on us Hans! it will be dark
before you get back if you don’t start this minute.”

By this time Dame Brinker was almost out of breath, and
quite out of commas. She could not remember when she had
seen the children idle away an hour of daylight in this manner,
and the thought of such luxury quite appalled her. By way of
compensation, she now flew about the room in extreme haste.
Tossing a block of peat upon the fire, blowing invisible dust
from the table, and handing the finished hose to Hans, all in an
instant, —

“ Come, Hans,”
“what keeps thee?”

Hans kissed his mother’s plump cheek, rosy and fresh yet,
in spite of all her troubles. “My mother is the best in the
world, and I would be right glad to have a pair of skates; -
but ”’ — and, as he buttoned his jacket, he looked, in a troubled
way, toward a strange figure crouching by the hearthstone -—
“if my money would bring a meester! from Amsterdam to see

she said, as her boy lingered by the door,

the father, something might yet be done.”

1 Doctor (dokter in Dutch) called meester by the lower class.