Part 15 (1/2)

”My sheep has but two legs left and no tail, and only Joiner Andreas knows how to fix it. Now let me go.”

Miezi's papa and Uncle Max laughed as she ran from the room.

”Who is this man that has the whole household at his command?”

inquired Uncle Max.

”You ought to know better than I,” answered Colonel Ritter. ”Very likely he is an old playmate of yours. I am sure you would enjoy knowing him. Your sister makes us all love him. He is really the corner stone of this household, without whom things generally would go to rack and ruin. It doesn't matter what happens, for 'Joiner Andreas will fix it.' In fact he is helper, adviser, comforter, and friend, all in one.”

”You may laugh,” said Mrs. Ritter, who returned just then, ”but I know that Joiner Andreas is a comfort.”

”So do I,” said the husband, playfully.

”So do I,” echoed Miezi, as she seated herself at the table.

”So do I,” added Otto, who was rubbing the knuckles he had bruised in his hasty exit.

”Then we are all agreed,” said the mother. ”Now I want you children to go to bed.”

”To which we are not all agreed,” said Otto, teasingly.

However, Trina came and they were obliged to go. The mother followed after a time, as was her custom, to hear the children's evening prayer and receive their last embrace for the night. This often required some time, for they were eager to tell her many things, and detained her for their own pleasure. To-night she remained until they were quiet and then returned to the gentlemen in the sitting room.

”At last,” said Colonel Ritter, apparently as relieved as if he had just conquered an enemy. ”You see, Max, my wife's time belongs first of all to Joiner Andreas, and then to the children; if there is any left, it belongs to me.”

”Oh, it's not quite so bad as that!” corrected Mrs. Ritter. ”You like Andreas just as well as the rest of us do, even though you won't admit it. That reminds me, he told me that he had received the money from his yearly profit and wanted your advice about investing it.”

”Yes, it is a fact,” said the colonel, ”that I never saw a more trustworthy or energetic man than he. I would trust him with all I have. He is by far the most reliable and wide-awake man in our parish.”

”Now you know what he thinks of him, Max,” said Mrs. Ritter, laughing.

”Yes, to be sure,” said the brother, ”but you have said so much about this man that I am curious to see him. Did I ever know him?”

”Why, Max! to think of your asking!” his sister admonished him. ”You used to go to school together and you knew him well. Don't you remember the two brothers who were in your cla.s.s, the older one such a good-for-nothing boy? Not that he was stupid, but he didn't care to study, so the younger one was in the same cla.s.s. The older one's name was George, and he was rather striking in appearance because of his heavy black hair. Whenever he saw us he would pelt us with stones or apples, and he invariably called us 'aristocrat-breed.'”

Uncle Max laughed. ”Yes, I should say I do remember him distinctly,”

he said. ”That word I shall never forget--'aristocrat-breed.' I should like to know how he got hold of it. I remember very well what a tyrant he was. I interfered once when I saw him unmercifully pommeling a much smaller boy, and he took his vengeance on me by calling me 'aristocrat-breed' at least a dozen times. Now, of a sudden, I remember the other one too. Can it be that little Andreas with the violets has become your hero? Now I comprehend the intimacy, Marie.”

”The violets!” broke in Colonel Ritter. ”I have heard nothing about the violets.”

”Why, I see that scene before me as if it were but yesterday,”

continued Max, ”and I am going to tell you about it, Otto. You have no doubt heard Marie tell about the teacher we had in those days, who believed that the bad should be whipped out of children and the good whipped into them. Consequently he was much of the time engaged in punis.h.i.+ng us for one or both purposes. At one time he was administering this treatment to the little Andreas, and he struck the boy such a heavy blow across the back that he screamed outright. Well, my little sister, who had just begun to go to school, and who didn't understand the teacher's well-meant methods, immediately rose from her seat and marched down the aisle to the door.

”The teacher stopped to see what had happened, holding his rod poised in the air long enough to ask, 'Where are you going?'

”Marie turned around and, with tears streaming down her face, answered loud enough for the whole school to hear, 'I am going home to tell my papa.'

”I shall never forget how the teacher left the astonished Andreas and rushed upon Marie. 'Just wait and I'll teach _you_,' he threatened. He roughly took her by the arm and forced her back to her seat, muttering, 'I'll teach _you_!' That ended the scene, however, for he sent Andreas to his seat without further punishment, and nothing more was said to Marie.

”Andreas never forgot this kind act in his behalf, and he always brought Marie a bunch of violets when he came to school; I used to notice how they perfumed the schoolroom. Occasionally there would be a cl.u.s.ter of strawberries or something else equally appropriate. How the friends.h.i.+p has extended to the present state of affairs I shall have to let my sister explain.”