Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/57

Rh you. Come, then, once more I ask you, which of these three gallants would you prefer for a husband?"

"Oh, don't ask me that," answered the young girl. "All that I can tell you, is, that I do not judge of Reinhold as you do."

At these words dame Martha arose, and making a friendly sign to Rosa with her hand—"All is said," continued she. "Thus it is Reinhold who will be the husband; that changes all my ideas."

"But I beg of you," cried Rosa, following her to the door, "I supplicate you to neither believe nor suppose; for who can know what the future will be? Let us leave the care of it to Providence."

For several days, quite a new activity animated the work-shop of master Martin. To fill all the orders that came in, it had been necessary to enlist apprentices and journeymen, and from sunrise until sunset, the noise of the mallets made a stunning bustle. Reinhold had been entrusted with the calculation of the guage of the great tun ordered by my lord the prince, bishop of Bamberg. After this labor of reflection and intelligence, Frederick and Conrad had lent him the aid of their hands; and the work, thanks to their zeal, had arrived at so great a degree of perfection, that master Martin was beside himself with joy. The three journeymen occupied themselves, under his superintendence, with the hooping of it; the mallets arose and fell in measure. Old Valentine, the grandfather of the little orphans, shaped the staves, and the good dame Martha, seated behind Conrad, gave a portion of her time to the family work, and a portion to watching her babes.

The work was so noisy, that they did not hear old Johannes Holzschuer enter. Master Martin, who first perceived him, went to meet him, and asked him what he desired.

"Two things," answered Holzschuer; "first, I wished to see my old pupil, Frederick, again, whom I see working there so bravely. Afterwards, I came to beg of you, dear