So he considered it his Christian duty to there and then take a plate of lard-dumplings and a tumbler full of wine from a cupboard, place them before her on the table, and compel her to fall to, so that, at any rate, he might save her from dying of hunger.
"Oh, sir, a thousand thanks; but I am not a bit hungry.

I am too put out to eat, and, at the best of times, I have no more appetite than a little bird.

The little I ever eat at table would never be missed.

But what I should desire more than all the riches in the world would be to hear a kind word from the mouth of my darling Fanny.

Is such a thing possible?
Do you think she would look at her poor mother?
Would she be ashamed at the sight of me?
Perhaps she would no longer recognize me, in such misery as I am, in rags and wretchedness, and so old and haggard.
Might I see her for an instant, if only once?
I do not ask to speak to her, but if I might just see her at a little distance--through a window, perhaps--just catch a peep at her surreptitiously, see her pass before me, hear her speaking to some one else---- Oh, then, all my desires would be satisfied!" Master Boltay was quite touched by these words, though it did occur to him that he had witnessed a somewhat similar scene in some German tragedy.
"Come, come," said he to the weeping mother, "don't take on so! You shall assuredly have your wish.