beer, stroked the boy's curls with her wet hand.

On reaching home, Adam permitted his son to go to the doctor's in his new
clothes; Ruth screamed with joy when she saw him, walked round and round
him, and curiously felt the woollen stuff of the doublet and its blue
slashes, ever and anon clapping her hands in delight.

Her parents had expected that the parting would excite her most
painfully, but she smiled joyously into her playmate's face, when he bade
her farewell, for she took the matter in her usual way, not as it really
was, but as she imagined it to be. Instead of the awkward Ulrich of the
present, the fairy-prince he was now to become stood before her; he was
to return without fail at Christmas, and then how delightful it would be
to play with him again. Of late they had been together even more than
usual, continually seeking for the word, and planning a thousand
delightful things he was to conjure up for her, and she for him and
others.

It was the Sabbath, and on this day old Rahel always dressed the child in
a little yellow silk frock, while on Sunday her mother did the same. The
gown particularly pleased Ulrich's eye, and when she wore it, he always
became more yielding and obeyed her every wish. So Ruth rejoiced that it
chanced to be the Sabbath, and while she passed her hand over his
doublet, he stroked her silk dress.

They had not much to say to each other, for their tongues always faltered
in the presence of others. The doctor gave Ulrich many an admonitory
word, his wife kissed him, and as a parting remembrance hung a small gold
ring, with a glittering stone, about his neck, and old Rahel gave him a
kerchief full of freshly-baked cakes to eat on his way.