Doctor Groot says, that when a girl in Delft, no one could support the tenor like you, and if you, Frau von Nordwyk, and Herr Van Aken's oldest daughter--" "But, my dear Meister!" exclaimed the burgomaster's wife with increasing impatience, "I'm not asking about your motets and tabulatures, but my husband." Wilhelm gazed at the young wife's face with a half-startled, half-astonished look.

Then, smiling at his own awkwardness, he shook his head, saying in a tone of good-natured repentance: "Pray forgive me, little things seem unduly important to us when they completely fill our own souls.

One word about your absent husband must surely sound sweeter to your ears, than all my music.

I ought to have thought of that sooner.

So--the burgomaster is well and has transacted a great deal of business with the Prince.