A thousand crowns! A fortune! "Hold out your hand," requested Herbeck.

One by one he laid the notes on the goose-girl's hand.

"This is only a just reward for being kind and gentle to the unfortunate." "And I shall add to it another thousand," said Hildegarde.

"Give them to me, father." In all, this fortune amounted to little more than four hundred dollars; but to Gretchen, frugal and thrifty, to whom a single crown was a large sum, to her it represented wealth.

She was now the richest girl in the lower town.