Page:Select Popular Tales from the German of Musaeus.djvu/83

Rh delighted at the proved efficacy of the magic root, or at the treasure which he had discovered, but stood himself rooted to the spot, as if the secret spell had transformed him to a statue. At length, he bethought himself in earnest of his intended pilgrimage, and, being luckily furnished with this treasure for his journey, he departed on his expedition of discovery, in the highest possible spirits.

On their return, the females greatly wondered to find the house shut up, and the trusty sentinel nowhere to be found. To all their knocking and calling no reply was returned except by the mewing of a cat. Not being provided with so efficacious a key as the spring-root, the dame was obliged to have recourse to commoner means, and to apply to a locksmith. While the smith was employed in opening the door, the dame was equally busied in preparing sundry sharp epithets with which she intended to salute her unfortunate husband, whom she deemed to be sleeping at his post; but, alas! on opening the door, no sleeper was to be found.

Midday, evening, and midnight came in succession: still they brought not Peter Block. The business now grew serious, and mother and daughter held a solemn council as to the causes of this sudden absconding. The strangest conjectures were made; and, as that gloomy hour naturally suggested more alarming and mournful ideas, even Dame Ilse felt some compunctious visitings of conscience. “Alas,” exclaimed she, wringing her hands, “I fear, Gertrude, thy father has come to an untimely end.” All the ditches, and ponds, not forgetting the milldam, were scrutinized, and still no trace whatever of the lost sheep. So that, at length, the good dame resigned herself to her widowed state, and began to look out for a successor to Master Peter in his asinine duties, and to purchase a four-footed beast of burden to replace the biped. Having met with one to her satisfaction, and settled the price, she went to draw the sum upon her treasury, and for this purpose unlocked its well-secured door. But what could equal her horror at perceiving the dreary scene it displayed! For some minutes did she stand as in a mute trance; at length the dreadful conviction flashed upon her mind. Of what nature were the exclamations and apostrophes that now rolled in full torrent from her tongue, it is easy to divine.

About a month after this domestic catastrophe, a knock at the door announced some one’s arrival: Dame Ilse hastened to open it in the expectation of a customer, when there entered a young man, apparently a person of some consequence and of prepossessing address; his attire was that of a country gentleman. The youth expressed his joy at seeing her so well, and inquired kindly after her daughter, although the dame could not remember to have seen him before. She found the visit, however, intended rather for Gertrude than herself; still she invited the stranger in, and having offered him a seat, inquired his business. With a