And when she would say, “You will work yourself to death, my Carl,” he would laugh pleasantly, and immediately renew his efforts ten fold.  He now determined that after his duties at home were performed, to go among the neighbors; not to be a nurse for their children, as before, but to work for wages, and after this when he returned and placed the money on Magde’s weaving loom, a bright object might have been discovered glistening upon the crumpled bank-note.  It was a tear of joy which Carl had shed.

Magde after the first occurrence of this incident, dared to praise Carl no further.  She already perceived the consequence of so doing, but after the lilacs and lilies had faded, the tulips, roses and lavender bushes, bloomed, and however weary Magde might find herself after a day of toil, she would each evening place elegant boquets in Carl’s flower vases.

At length, and too soon, the decision in regard to the smuggled goods arrived, and as Mr. Lonner was unable to pay the penalty imposed upon him, he was doomed to imprisonment.  In this their day of trouble, Mr. Lonner alone retained his courage.

He well knew in truth to whom they were indebted for their distress, but he feared nothing.  He trusted in the belief that Magde would do all that was in her power to raise the sum of money necessary to pay the fine.  It was unfortunate, however, that Magde, without the old man’s knowledge, had expended their small stock of money to pay a few debts that they had contracted the previous spring.

We will not attempt to depict the misery of the moment when old Mr. Lonner stepped into the boat which was to conduct him to the prison at Harad which was located on the opposite side of the lake, and where he was to be confined for the time being.  Both of his daughters wished to accompany him to the opposite shore; but he forbade them so seriously that they dared not press their desires further.

It was touching to observe these sorrow stricken females, amidst their terror search high and low in the cottage for various articles of comfort for their beloved father.  At length, with a slight degree of sorrowful impatience old Mr. Lonner ordered the boatmen to push off from the shore, and then it was piteous in the extreme to behold both Magde and Nanna, as they clung to the gunwale, to whisper their tearful adieu’s, and to promise that they would pay him a visit in his prison in a few days.

Finally the bitter moment was over; the boat rapidly proceeded from the land; but so long as they could discern the old man’s white locks fluttering in the breeze and even until the boat appeared a speck in the distance, Nanna and Magde remained on the shore gazing out upon the water.

In the meantime Carl without the knowledge of the family had proceeded to the opposite shore of the lake, and when the boat which contained his father touched the shore, Carl greeted him tenderly and presented him with a ten dollar bank note.  This was a treasure indeed, and Carl had obtained it by selling the only article of value which he possessed.  It was a silver watch, which his mother had given him before she died.