grateful in her heart for a daughter-in-law who had no uncomfortable
sensitiveness.

A little later, Will found an opportunity to win complete forgiveness.
Toni was anxious to get the evening post as soon as it arrived. She
complained, also, that something which had been ordered for supper had
not been sent from Waldhofen, and that a message which had been
entrusted to a groom, had not, she feared, been properly delivered. So
Willibald offered to go at once, and set all these vexatious trifles to
rights, and his offer was graciously accepted.

Waldhofen was a place of great importance to the mountaineers, though in
itself it was but a small town. It was about thirty minutes' walk from
Fürstenstein, and was an important centre for all the little villages
and hamlets scattered through the forest.

There was seldom a soul to be seen on the streets during the afternoon
hours, and it seemed a deserted, desolate place to Herr von Eschenhagen,
as he crossed the dreary market-place on his way from the post-office.

He had attended to the other errands first, and delivered the message,
which concerned the sending of a chest to Fürstenstein. As the streets
were of no interest to him, he turned now into a side road, where there
were neat little houses, with fresh, green little lawns in front. The
road was uneven and muddy after yesterday's heavy rain, but Willibald
was a countryman himself, and paid no heed to bad roads, so he walked on
now without a murmur.

He was in a very contented frame of mind, both as regarded himself and
the world at large. Here he was, a strong, healthy young man, with a