60 . Hans Brinker

“A meester would not come, Hans, for twice that money ;
and it would do no good, if he did. Ah, how many guilders I
once spent for that! But the dear, good father would not
waken. It is God’s will. Go, Hans, and buy the skates.”

Hans started with a heavy heart; but since the heart was
young, and in a boy’s bosom, it set him whistling in less than
five minutes. His mother had said “ thee” to him; and that
was quite enough to make even a dark day sunny. Hollanders
do not address each other in affectionate intercourse, as the
French and Germans do. But Dame Brinker had embroidered
for a Heidelberg family in her girlhood; and she had carried its
“thee ” and “ thou ”’ into her rude home, to be used in moments
of extreme love and tenderness.

Therefore, “ What keeps thee, Hans?” sang an echo-song
beneath the boy’s whistling, and made him feel that his errand
was blest.