“And thou hast had thy wish fulfilled,” Katrina said.
“Yea, but as I have said, at what a sacrifice! Its possession has not brought me happiness, and I have come back a disappointed, discouraged man. Thou wilt doubtless be surprised, Katrina, when I tell thee that the only real happiness I have known in many years was only lately when, out of love for my father’s memory, I completed some of the toys which his hands had left unfinished. On reaching Grünwald I learned that a fair was soon to take place at Eisenach, and I knew what pride he would have felt to have his toys displayed; so I came to the old home, and for many, many days I hardly left his work-bench.”
“So,” exclaimed Katrina with amazement, “it was thou who sent that anonymous exhibit to the fair!”
“Yes,” Fritz answered, smiling, “and thou canst not guess, Katrina, what became of the money won in prizes?”
Katrina, puzzled, shook her head.
“It is the nucleus of a fund with which I intend to endow a school where poor but ambitious boys can be provided, not only with an education, but also with a home, and it shall be dedicated to the memory of Martin Luther.”
As Fritz looked into Katrina’s face he saw a beauty that seemed not of earth. He drew her hand close within his own, and long, long they sat there by the Rose-bush.
“Yea, Katrina, I have searched in all the wide world for the greatest treasure.”
“And yet thou sayest thou hast not found it, Fritz?”
As he answered Fritz’s face seemed full of light, “I have found it, my own Katrina; but not out there in the world. Vain were my searchings there. It is here, within; so close, so close.”