Conradt [pp. 169-174]

Conradt.
gentle knock, to recognize old Conradt,
standing cap in hand before me. He
looked as if he had encountered a heavy
storm on his way up stairs, and had
weathered it with difficulty.
"If der lady please," he said in a most
apologetic tone, "She haf taken der
small pox. May I but haf von look at
her."
I confess that for a moment I was
startled. The statement was calculated
to be alarming, particularly as the dread
scourge to which he apparently alluded
was at that time raging in the city, and
I could only stand and gaze at my visitor in amaze and alarm. I had asked
him in, however, and as he stood hesitating near the door, he espied the carved
box in its position on a low bookcase,
and softly crossing the room, he stood
before it, speaking in an undertone to
himself, and in his native tongue, words
that I recognized as terms of praise and
endearment.
I think that for the next hour he quite
forgot my existence, and after watching
him for a few minutes as he stood in rapt
adoration, this time with one finger tracing the delicate carving of the casket,
and the other hand beating the air as if
keeping time to music, I finally resumed
my writing and left him to his own
devices.
By and by his soft footsteps sorunded
across the floor, and he stood at my side.
As I looked up he said wistfully, "Pardon me, lady, I meant no harm. I so
long her to see," and tears actually trembled in his childlike blue eyes.
I could not resist his pleading look.
"You may come whenever you wish," I
said, "and see the box. I can understand how dear it is to you. I already
love it, myself."
His face cleared. "I will only come
oc-casonly," - he stumbled a little at
the long word. Then, after a moment's
hesitation, he took from an inner pocket
a little package which he laid on the desk
before me.
Opening it I found it to contain several bits of carved wood, evidently intended to replace those that were missing
from the box. "It is der broke corners,"
he explained. "If you would but accept.
I haf carved dem exactly as der oders.
If only dey might be on der pox. I
would so hap-pee be, -so hap-pee."
Much as I had regretted the missing
carvings, I do not think that I could
have brought myself to allow them to be
replaced by an ordinary workman, however skillful, but the old man's love for
the box seemed to me to give him a right
to contribute this much to its restoration,
and with a sudden feeling of kinship for
him, I accepted his offering, and even
asked him to glue the pieces in place for
me. His happiness when, the bottle of
glue being produced, he took the object
of his worship in his hands, and with
loving manipulation proceeded to the
work of repairing it, was very touching
to witness, and ere his task was completed my sympathy had gone entirely
out to him.
After that he came quite often, and
little by little I learned his history. It
was just such a simple little story as his
appearance would have led one to anticipate; the story of a patient, simple soul,
always facing the wind bravely enough,
but making very little headway against
it, after all. He had been a wood-carver
in ancient Nuremberg, the city of his
birth, and had done well enough in his
quiet way, until ambition had tempted
his only child, a son, to try his fortune
in America.
The young man, with his wife and
infant child, being ready for the trip, the
old father could not, of course, be left
behind, so the whole family had come to
the New World, and after some months
of wandering had drifted across the continent to this Coast. -Here the younger
man had been taken ill, and within a
month or two after their arrival he died.
The young wife made a desperate effort
to bear up under her affliction, but sor
1889.]
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