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 beloved maiden to his breast. “Cheer up, Kate; we will do yet, mother! I am not quite unskilled in hunting; for I was first apprenticed to my uncle, Finsterbusch, the upper-forester; and it was only to please the Amtmann, who stood my god-father, that I left the gun and the merry green-wood for the writing-chamber. But what care I for succeeding my god-father, unless I could make my Kate lady Amtmannin! If you are content, Kate, to look no higher than your mother did before you, and William the forester is as dear to you as William the Amtmann, then cheer up my heart; love under the greenwood-tree will be as sweet as love in the city!”

“Ah, dear, sweet William,” exclaimed Katherine, while the clouds of care which had collected on her fair brow disappeared and her bright eyes glistened with joy through her tears, “wilt thou indeed do this for me; then haste thee and speak to my father before he give Robert his word!”

“Stop, Kate,” said William, “I will give him a little surprise in the forest. He is gone in quest of the venison which is to be delivered to-morrow at our office. Give me a gun and a bag,—I’ll meet him hunter-like, and with a hunter’s salutation; and, perhaps, I’ll offer him my services as his hunting-boy.”

The mother and daughter both embraced him as he stood there suddenly transformed into a fine active looking Jäger; and both followed him with their anxious prayers when he disappeared in the thick forest.