As the door closed upon her I noticed that she wore a calico frock and that her face did not own one perfect feature.
"'Go after Luttra and tell her to make up the bed in the northwest room,' said the elder of the two in deep gutteral tones unmistakably German in their accent, to the other who stood shaking the wet off his coat into the leaping flames of a small wood fire that burned on the hearth before us.
"'O, she'll do without my bothering,' was the sullen return.

'I'm wet through.' "The elder man, a large powerfully framed fellow of some fifty years or so, frowned.

It was an evil frown, and the younger one seemed to feel it.

He immediately tossed his coat onto a chair and left the room.
"'Boys are so obstropolous now-a-days,' remarked his companion to me with what he evidently intended for a conciliatory nod.

'In my time they were broke in, did what they were told and asked no questions.' "I smiled to myself at his calling the broad shouldered six-footer who had just left us a boy, but merely remarking, 'He is your son is he not!' seated myself before the blaze which shot up a tongue of white flame at my approach, that irresistibly recalled to my fancy the appearance of the girl who had gone out a moment before.
"'O, yes, he is my son, and that girl you saw here was my daughter; I keep this inn and they help me, but it is a slow way to live, I can tell you.