was rubbing his hands--"yes, I am delighted with what I have done; and
I value the lesson, believe me, more than ten loads of wood: and never
shall I forget you to my dying day. And though I see you are not so poor
as I had imagined, still I don't regret it. Oh! no, certainly not at
all."

"Eh! did you think me so very poor, then?"

"Yes, miserably poor."

"I have always been poor, but God has never suffered me to be a single
day without necessaries. I have in the world much happiness which I have
not deserved, and much unhappiness I have not, which perchance I have
deserved. I have found much favor with both high and low, for which I
cannot sufficiently thank God. And now tell me, cannot I give you
something, or obtain something for you? You are a local magistrate, I
presume?"

"Why so?"

"You look like it: you might be."

Christopher had taken his hat into his hands, and was crumpling it up
now; he half closed his eyes, and with a sly, inquiring glance, he
peered at Gellert. Suddenly, however, the expression of his face
changed, and the muscles quivered, as he said: "Sir, what a man are you!
How you can dive into the recesses of one's heart! I have really pined
night and day, and been cross with the whole world, because I could not
be magistrate, and you, sir, you have actually helped to overcome that
in me. Oh! sir, as soon as I read that verse in your book, I had an