“‘Your partner was that fine looking gentleman from Hesse? Did he not tell you that he adored your blue eyes and fair hair, and that he would make you a baroness, if you would go home with him?’
“‘White Angel, make me a baroness.’
“The evening of that day a young peasant came and asked Louisa’s mother for her daughter’s hand. The mother said, Yes.
“‘White Angel, deliver me from this boor. I want to be a baroness!’
“But the mother, who was a widow, had energy enough for two. The White Angel did not appear again; Louisa had to yield, and went on turning her spindle.
“One day her husband, who was a hard-working man, had over-exerted himself and was taken ill. Louisa had seen her gentleman again.
“‘White Angel, he loves me still. He has sworn he would marry me if I were a widow.’.... She dared not say more. Her husband recovered his health completely. The White Angel still turned a deaf ear to her wishes. She lost all hope of ever becoming a baroness.
“Some years later Louisa was the mother of two beautiful children; she was fond of her husband, whose labor procured for her all that she needed, and when she thought of him and her two darlings, the spindle felt quite soft to her fingers.
“One evening, when she was only half asleep, lying by her husband’s side, with one of her hands in his, and the youngest of her babies at her bosom, the white figure appeared once more and she heard a gentle voice whispering something into her ear. It was the voice of the White Angel.
“What did it say?