Page:Poet Lore, volume 4, 1892.djvu/410



HERE was once a girl in Krarṵp inn by the name of Karen.

Her work was to wait on the guests; and she had to do it alone, for the innkeeper’s wife was nearly always tripping about looking for her keys. And Krarṵp inn was much frequented,—both by people from the neighborhood, who gathered on summer evenings after supper in the capacious guest-hall and drank their old-fashioned coffee-punch in a sort of general way, without any particular purpose; and by travellers and wayfarers, who came in—dusty and overcome by the wind—to get something warm, in order to keep up their spirits till they reached the next inn.

But Karen attended to them all, although she went about so quietly, and never seemed to be in a hurry.

She was slight and small,—quite young, serious and silent, so there was not much of interest in her for the “drummers.” But regular guests, who took their inn-visits seriously, and appreciated