The Laundress now felt a little better; the warm ale had strengthened her, the smell of the meat had done her good.

“Now, you good soul,” said she to Maren, “I will tell you all about it, while the boy is asleep.  That he is already; look at him, how sweetly he looks with his eyes closed; he little thinks how his mother has suffered.  May he never feel the like!  Well, I was in service with the sheriff’s parents when their youngest son, the student, came home; I was a wild young thing then, but honest—­that I must say for myself.  And the student was so pleasant and merry, a better youth never lived.  He was a son of the house, I only a servant, but we became sweethearts—­all in honor and honesty—­and he told his mother that he loved me; she was like an angel in his eyes, so wise, kind, and loving!  And he went away, but his gold ring of betrothal was on my finger.  When he was really gone, my mistress called me in to speak to her; so grave, yet so kind she looked, so wisely she spoke, like an angel, indeed.  She showed me what a gulf of difference in tastes, habits, arid mind lay between her son and me.  ’He sees you now to be good-hearted and pretty, but will you always be the same in his eyes?  You have not been educated as he has been; intellectually you cannot rise to his level.  I honor the poor,’ she continued, ’and I know that in the kingdom of heaven many a poor man will sit in a higher seat than the rich; but that is no reason for breaking the ranks in this world, and you two, left to yourselves, would drive your carriage full tilt against all obstacles till it toppled over with you both.  I know that a good honest handicraftsman, Erik, the glove-maker, has been your suitor; he is a widower without children, he is well off; think whether you cannot be content with him.’  Every word my mistress spoke went like a knife through my heart, but I knew she was right; I kissed her hand, and shed such bitter tears!  But bitterer tears still came when I went into my chamber and lay upon my bed.  O, the long, dreary night that followed!  Our Lord alone knows what I suffered.  Not till I went to church on Sunday did a light break upon my darkness.  It seemed providential that as I came out of church I met Erik the glove-maker.  There were no more doubts in my mind; he was a good man, and of my own rank.  I went straight to him, took his hand, and asked, ’Art thou still in the same mind toward me?’—­’Yes, and I shall never be otherwise minded,’ he replied.—­’Dost thou care to have a girl who likes and honors thee, but does not love thee?’—­’I believe love will come,’ he said, and so he took my hand.  I went home to my mistress; the gold ring that her son had given to me, that I wore all day next my heart, and on my finger at night in bed, I now drew forth; I kissed it till my mouth bled, I gave it to my mistress, and said that next week the bans would be read for me and the glove-maker.  My mistress took me in her arms and kissed me; she did not tell me I was good-for-nothing; I was good for something then, it seems, before I had known so much trouble.  The wedding was at Candlemastide, and our first year all went well; my husband had apprentices, and you, Maren, helped me in the housework.”