Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/317

300 smile. "The Herr will make a great man of you, he says. You shall learn to make beautiful statues like the saints in the church at M, and when you are rich, some day, you shall come and stay with us—always."

Her voice broke at that, and Hansel ran into her arms, and Carl and Herr Steiner went outside and left them together.

In another half-hour, the artist and the boy set out together for M, Hansel carrying a little bundle in one hand.

There was a big lump in his throat, and the trees swam before his eyes, but he did not shed a tear until he cried himself to sleep that night in his room at the inn.

By and by came a letter from Dresden to the Myers family, giving good news of Hansel. Carl and Gretel walked to M to carry the letter to their kind old priest and hear him read it aloud, for they were unable to decipher it themselves.