Gretchen approved.

So he gave the old woman his left hand.

The grandmother smoothed it out upon her own and bent her shrewd eyes.Silence.Gretchen could hear the malter stirring above; the log cracked and burst into flame.

A frown began to gather on the vintner's brow and a sweat in his palm.
"I see many strange things here," said the palmist, in a brooding tone.
"And what do you see ?" asked Gretchen eagerly.
"I see very little of vineyards.

I see riches, pomp; I see vast armies moving against each other; there is the smell of powder and fire; devastation.