"How did you come here?" he asked.
"I am at home," she replied; "I am watching my flocks."
"Your flocks!" he exclaimed; "where do they find pasture? There is nothing here but snow and rocks."
"Much you know of what grows here," she replied, laughing. "Not far beneath us there is beautiful pasture-land. My goats go there. I tend them carefully; I never miss one. What is once mine remains mine."
"You are bold," said Rudy.
"And so are you," she answered.
"Have you any milk in the house?" he asked; "if so, give me some to drink; my thirst is intolerable."
"I have something better than milk," she replied, "which I will give you. Some travellers who were here yesterday with their guide left behind them a half a flask of wine, such as you have never tasted. They will not come back to fetch it, I know, and I shall not drink it; so you shall have it."
Then the maiden went to fetch the wine, poured some into a wooden cup, and offered it to Rudy.
"How good it is!" said he; "I have never before tasted such warm, invigorating wine." And his eyes sparkled with new life; a glow diffused itself over his frame; it seemed as if every sorrow, every oppression were banished from his mind, and a fresh, free nature were stirring within him. "You are surely Annette, the schoolmaster's daughter," cried he; "will you give me a kiss?"