“Walstein was away in Bohemia with his regiment; and, perhaps, it were better so, for I had told him such narratives of our family, such high-flown stories of our princely possessions, that I could not have had the courage to face him with an avowal of the opposite. At last I did make a friend, Kate; at least one poor fellow took an interest in me, talked to me of home, of you and Nelly; mostly of her, and of her curious carvings, which he prized almost as much as little Hans used. He sat with me many an hour under the trees of the Prater, or we strolled along in the shady alleys of the 'Augarten;' and his companionship somehow always soothed and comforted me, for he was so stored with book learning that he could ever bring out something from Uhland or Richter or Wieland that suited the moment, just as if the poet had one in his mind when he wrote it. How often have I wished that I was like him, Kate, and had a mind like his, teeming with its own resources against sorrow.”
“Tell me more of him, Frank dearest; I feel an interest in him already.”
“And yet you would scarcely have liked him, if you saw him,” said the boy, with a bashful and hesitating manner.
“Why not, Frank? His appearance might have been little promising, his face and figure commonplace—”
“No, no; not that,—not that Adolf was good-looking, with a fine, clear brow, and a manly, honest face; nor was his manner vulgar,—at least, for his station. He was a pedler.”
“A pedler, Frank,” cried Kate, growing scarlet as she spoke.
“Ay, I knew well how you would hear the word,” said the boy; “I often used to fancy my high-bred sister's scorn if she could but have seen the companion whose arm lay around my neck, and who spoke to me as 'thou.'”
Kate made no answer, but her cheek was crimson, and her lip trembled.
“You and Walstein were never out of my thoughts,” continued Frank; “for I could fancy how each of you would look down upon him.”
“Not that, Frank,” said she, in confusion; “if he were indeed kind to you,—if he were a true friend in that time of dreariness and gloom.”