“What is your name?”

“Karl Imnant, Monsieur.”

“What is your business?”

“My father hopes to obtain the position of a forester in the Grinderwald for me.”

There was a long silence and Zacharias looked at the young man with an envious eye.

“And she loves you?” he asked in a broken voice.

“Oh, yes, Monsieur; we love each other devotedly.”

And Zacharias, letting his eyes fall on his thin legs and his hands wrinkled and veined, murmured: 

“Yes, she ought to love him; he is young and handsome.”

And his head fell on his breast again.  All at once he arose, trembling in every limb, and opened the window.

“Young man, you have done very wrong; you will never know how much wrong you have really done.  You must obtain Mr. Foerster’s consent—­but go—­go—­you will hear from me soon.”

The young mountaineer did not wait for a second invitation; with one bound he jumped to the path below and disappeared behind the grand old trees.

“Poor, poor Zacharias,” the old Judge murmured, “all your illusions are fled.”

At seven o’clock, having regained his usual calmness of demeanor, he descended to the room below, where Charlotte, Dame Christine and Yeri were already waiting breakfast for him.  The old man, turning his eyes from the young girl, advanced to the Head Forester, saying: 

“My friend, I have a favor to ask of you.  You know the son of the forester of the Grinderwald, do you not?”

“Karl Imnant, why yes, sir!”

“He is a worthy young man, and well behaved, I believe.”

“I think so, Monsieur.”

“Is he capable of succeeding his father?”

“Yes, he is twenty-one years old; he knows all about tree-clipping, which is the most necessary thing of all—­he knows how to read and how to write; but that is not all; he must have influence.”

“Well, Master Yeri, I still have some influence in the Department of Forests and Rivers.  This day fortnight, or three weeks at the latest, Karl Imnant shall be Assistant Forester of the Grinderwald, and I ask the hand of your daughter Charlotte for this brave young man.”

At this request, Charlotte, who had blushed and trembled with fear, uttered a cry and fell back into her mother’s arms.

Her father looking at her severely, said:  “What is the matter, Charlotte?  Do you refuse?”

“Oh, no, no, father—­no!”

“That is as it should be!  As for myself, I should never have refused any request of Mr. Zacharias Seiler’s!  Come here and embrace your benefactor.”

Charlotte ran toward him and the old man pressed her to his heart, gazing long and earnestly at her, with eyes filled with tears.  Then pleading business he started home, with only a crust of bread in his basket for breakfast.

Fifteen days afterward, Karl Imnant received the appointment of forester, taking his father’s place.  Eight days later, he and Charlotte were married.