Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/314

Rh "So!" said the traveller. "I have walked far already and am tired. May I rest at your house before going farther?"

"With a good will," was Carl Myers's hearty response, and, striding along at a swift pace, he soon brought his guest to the rude hut which served him for a home.

Gretel Myers was not a little flustered to have a fine gentleman come in so unexpectedly, but she set a stool for him at the roughly hewn table, placed a clean, coarse cloth upon it, and soon had a blue bowl of milk and a brown loaf before him.

Herr Steiner praised the milk, and the pretty goat that gave it; and then he drew Hansel's carving from his pocket and asked if the child had really never had a teacher.

No, indeed! answered the parents in a breath. They were too poor to do more than clothe and feed their boy, and could give him no schooling.