short with expressions of gratitude and pleasure until her father
returned from the suffering Ursel.

Then, radiant with joy, she showed the old man her new treasures, and the
father's admiration and expressions of gratitude were not far behind the
daughter's.

It seemed as though Fate had blessed the modest rooms in Red Cock Street
with its most precious treasures.

It might be either Wolf's return, the hopes for his daughter which were
associated with it in the crippled old warrior's heart, or the unexpected
costly gifts, to which Wolf had added for his old friend a Netherland
drinking vessel in the form of a silver ship, which had moved the old
gentleman so deeply, but at any rate he allowed himself to be tempted
into an act of extravagance, and, in an outburst of good spirits which he
had not felt for a long time, he promised Wolf to fetch from the cellar
one of the jugs of wine which he kept there for his daughter's wedding.

"Over this liquid we will open our hearts freely to each other, my boy,"
he said. "The night is still long, and even at the Emperor's court there
is nothing better to be tasted. My dead mother used to say that there
are always more good things in a poor family which was once rich than in
a rich one which was formerly poor."




CHAPTER V.