Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/199

 is I.” The moment Lisa heard his voice, she jumped out of bed, and running to the door, threw it open, and clasped her husband joyfully round the neck. Responding with the most chilling coldness to these conjugal caresses, he put down his basket, and in the most doleful dumps, threw himself into the chimney corner. When Lisa saw what a miserable plight he was in, it went to her very heart. “What vexes thee, dear Stephen?” she asked tenderly; “what is the matter?” He at first made no other answer than sighs and groans; but Lisa pressed him so closely to explain the source of his grief, that feeling it out of his power to resist her affectionate entreaties, he at length related his disaster. When she learned that ’twas Rubezahl who had played this prank upon her husband, she readily divined the benevolent intention which had actuated him, and the whole affair then struck her in so ludicrous a light, that she burst into a hearty laugh. Had Stephen been in his usual temper of mind, Lisa would have found that laughing at him was no laughing matter; but depressed in spirit as he now was, he passed over this apparent levity, and anxiously inquired for the goats. Lisa laughed all the more heartily when she found her lord and master had been poking about and getting nothing for his pains. “What are my goats to thee?” replied she; “thou hast not even mentioned the children. As