"They can bury me up there," added she. "It's a pity I can't rest beside your father, for the lake never gave him up again. Oh if he'd only lived to see this!"
Our highest joys and our deepest sorrows are closely allied.
Grubersepp came back with Hansei, and was the first to congratulate Walpurga and the grandmother. He advised them, however, to say nothing of the matter until the purchase was legally consummated.
CHAPTER IX.
On Sunday, Hansei, Walpurga, and the mother, went to church together. The child remained at home with Gundel. They walked along the shore of the lake in silence, thinking of how often they had gone that way in joy and in sorrow, and how they would feel when walking along another path and to another church.
The churchgoers whom they met on the way greeted them coldly, and the grandmother said:
"Don't let us take evil thoughts against others into church with us. We must leave them outside."
"But when one comes out again, they're there all the same, just like the dogs that wait at the church door," replied Walpurga sharply. The mother looked at her and she shook her head, while she said: "Take my word for it, the people are not nearly so bad as they make believe to be. They think it makes them look grander and more important, if they show that they can be angry and spiteful; but let that be as it may, if we can't make others good, we can make ourselves better."
"Give me the umbrella, mother--I can carry it better than you," said Hansei. This was his manner of expressing his assent.
The innkeeper drove by. Hansei saluted him, but the only answer he heard was the cracking of the whip.