The high-road was reported to be wonderfully lively with cattle this afternoon; consequently we came upon Onkel Johann, that most experienced man in the stall, seated by another judge of cattle on a wall, wearing their very longest white aprons and bibs, so that they almost touched the ground.  You could tell the Hansel’s keen relish of the spectacle by his mustering courage to urge our staying, since the great Jagdhaus herd belonging to the Sterniwitz (landlord of the Star) was approaching.  We therefore lingered, and thus saw the beautiful herd.  It had suffered from no cruel phantom this year.  There were senners and herdsmen in their holiday costumes, with flowers and ribbons in their hats; there were leiterwagen returning with the chests of clothes and the now empty meal-sacks; but more than this, there were four pretty little lads, each leading the bonniest, cleanest little calf ever seen.  What, however, made Onkel Johann rub his hands with glee and give a big chuckle was the sight of a great black ox, wearing, instead of the usual verdant wreath round its neck, a real cow’s crown.  It was as ludicrous in his eyes as the sight of some sober gentleman in a Parisian bonnet would be in ours.  Such jokes seemed rife amongst the senners, for later on another black ox, in a fresh but smaller herd, tramped along with a rosette of scarlet ribbon on its head.  The herdsman, seeing us smile, adjusted the ends as carefully as a lady’s maid would put the last finishing-touches to the toilet of her mistress.  That was the final stroke to Hansel’s hilarity.

That night the presents were given amidst endless expressions of surprise and affectionate gratitude, which were brought to a climax by E—­’s kind mother presenting Kathi with a pair of china vases adorned with carefully painted clusters of flowers.  They brought great tears of admiration into the good soul’s eyes.  She vowed she would treasure them as long as she lived, and then they should be Moidel’s.  As soon as our plots were revealed, we found that counterplots had been carried on by the Hof family.  Thus, Jakob had managed a clandestine journey from the Olm to Bruneck, and met Anton there, where they had both been photographed expressly for the Herrschaft, occasioning Anton to blush up to the roots of his hair when he, with a smile on his slightly pathetic face, presented each of us, as he said, with “a very humble Andenken”.  Thus, too, a great many flowers with which to laden us had been carefully tended through this inclement season.  The next morning, carrying away flowers and good wishes, and filled with thoughts of mingled pleasure and pain, we bade adieu to the quaint, quiet pastoral Hof, to arrive at nightfall in the fortified Italian city of Verona.

MARGARET HOWITT

UNSAID.

  For days and weeks upon the lip has hung
    A precious something for an absent ear—­
  Some tender confidence but lately sprung,
    Some dear confession that but one must hear.