"Of course I am. Don't be--don't be--so--so superstitious. Strike a light. Have you no matches about you?"
"Of course I have."
He drew them from his pocket, but let them all fall on the ground. Walpurga gathered them up. Several of them caught fire, but immediately went out again. The sudden flash of blue light seemed weird and dismal. At last they succeeded in lighting the lamp, and went upstairs into the room, where Walpurga lit a second lamp, lest the darkness might again frighten them. Hansei hurriedly removed the pillow-case, and the glittering gold met his eyes.
"Now tell me," said he, passing his hand over his face, "have you any more? Don't try that again."
Walpurga assured him that this was all. Hansei spread the gold out on the table, piled it up in little heaps, and counted it with his fingers. He always had a piece of chalk in his pocket, and he now took it out and reckoned up the money. When he had finished, he turned and said:
"Come here, Walpurga. Come, there's your first kiss as mistress of the freehold."
Hansei put the gold back into the pillow-case, and when he went to bed he placed it under his pillow, saying: "Oh, what a good pillow; one can sleep sweetly on it."
CHAPTER X.
When Walpurga awoke the next morning, she found the sack of gold in bed beside her, but Hansei had disappeared.
"Where is he? What's become of him?"