her so happy. Finally, the sufferer expressed a desire for a priest,
that she might not pass from earth without a sacrament. Her sins
oppressed her sorely. She, and she alone, was to blame for Nickel's
being hanged. Never in all her life had she been a glutton; but before
the birth of the twins the devil had tormented her with a strange longing
for roast fowl, which she had been unable to repress and keep to herself.
Solely for her gratification, Nickel stole the goose and the hens. In
spite of many a bad business in which his reckless nature had involved
him, he was a good fellow, with a loving heart.

For her sake he would have tried to steal the ring from the executioner's
finger. Now he had gone into the other world unshriven, with the rope
about his neck, for though the benefit of the sacrament was usually
granted even to the worst criminals, the peasants strung Nickel up to the
nearest tree as soon as they caught him, without heeding his entreaties.
This made death even harder for her than the thought of the poor little
creatures yonder in the bundle of rags. Kuni's charity had provided for
the orphans, but her Nickel would find no mercy from the heavenly Judge
throughout eternity.

She had sobbed aloud as she spoke, and then writhed in such violent
convulsions that Kuni with difficulty prevented her from throwing herself
out of the hot straw in the cart upon the damp meadow.

When she grew somewhat calmer, she repeated Nickel's name again and again
till it was heartrending to hear her.