Page:The Decameron of the West (1839).djvu/180

 who tenderly loved his only son, intended to conceal from him his subterranean possessions, yet his death, being instantaneous, deprived him of the power to disclose the secret of what lay hidden in the garden. But, assuredly, to Francis the mode in which he now obtained his inheritance was infinitely better than if, at his parent’s decease, while in his profligate mood, he had received the treasure, and had thoughtlessly expended it like the rest of his substance. He now desired earnestly to behold the lovely Meta; and, while she was returning from church on one of the holidays, he gazed with rapture on those features, the recollection of which was sufficient to deter him from leaping over the Weser Bridge. No one present who had observed the looks of extreme joy and affection which these young persons exchanged, after their long separation, could have doubted of a mutual attachment, of no ordinary fervour, subsisting between them, though as yet their love was as mute as before.

Our hero now commenced the profession of a merchant in his native town, speculated in various modes of trade, and his success in all his plans, as well as his restoration to his former rank in society, formed the frequent subject of gossip from one end of Bremen to the other. Mother Briggitta, when she heard of