A Story of Nuremberg [pp. 523-536]

532 A STORY O~ NUREMBERG. [Jan.,
and that if death should overtake him with his labor uncompleted his name and memory must perish from the world. So, like
one who flies acn~ss a Russian steppe pursued by starving
wolves, Gabriel sped on his task, seeking to out-distance the grim
and noiseless wolf that followed close upon his track.
It was Christmas eve, the alIniversary of that snowy night
when Peter Burkgmaier had carried home the deformed child,
and now all was bustle and glad preparation in the stone-mason's
household. Within three days Kala was to be married, and Lis
beth, who felt that her reputation as cook and housewife was at
stake, spared neither time nor trouble in her hospitable labors.
Since early morning. the great fires had roared in her spacious
kitchen, and all the poor who came to beg a Christmas bounty
tasted freely of her good cheer. With light heart and busy
fingers Kala assisted her mother, and doled out the bread and
cakes-not too lavishly-to the ragged children who clamored
around the door; wondering much in the meanwhile what
trinket Sigmund would bring her with which to deck herself on
Christmas morning.
And in his little room Gabriel stood looking at his finished
work, and asking himself if his heart spoke truly when it whisVered "You, too, are great." It was sweet to realize that his
task was done and that he might rest at last; it was sweeter
still to see in the bit of carved wood before him the fulfilment of
all his dearest dreams. So while daylight faded into dusk and
evening into night, he sat lost in a maze of tangled thoughts that
~rowded wearily through his listless brain. It was now too
dark for him to discern the image by his side, but from time to
time he laid his hand upon it with a gentle touch, as a mother
~ight caress a sleeping child, and was happy in its dumb companionship.
How long he had been sitting thus he never knew, when suddenly out into the frosty air rang the great bells of St. Lorenz,
calling the faithful to midnight Mass.
Clearly and joyfully they pealed, as if their brazen tongues
were striving to utter in words their messages of good~wilI to
men. Gabriel's heart leaped at the sound, and a great yearning
seized him to kneel once more within those beloved walls, and
amid their solemn beauty to adore the new-born Babe. Jubilantly rang the bells, and their glad voices seemed to speak
to him as old friends, and with one accord to urge him on.
Weak and dizzy, he crept down the narrow stairs and out into
the bitter night. The sharp wind struck him in the face, and