Where were Gretel and Hans?
Ah! how suddenly joy sometimes comes to an end!
They had skated about an hour, keeping aloof from the others—quite contented with each other, and Gretel had exclaimed, "Ah, Hans, how beautiful! how fine! to think that we both have skates! I tell you the stork brought us good luck!"—when they heard something!
It was a scream—a very faint scream! No one else upon the canal observed it, but Hans knew its meaning too well. Gretel saw him turn white in the moonlight as he hastily tore off his skates.
"The father!" he cried, "he has frightened our mother!" and Gretel ran after him toward the house as rapidly as she could.
FOOTNOTES:
[15] Throughout this narrative distances are given according to our standard, the English statute mile of 5280 ft. The Dutch mile is more than four times as long as ours.