Otto's thoughts brightened
at the prospect, and he began to regard himself with a renewed
respect.
'I can find you, I believe, a purchaser,' he said, 'and one who
would continue to avail himself of your skill.'
'Can you, sir, indeed?' said the old man. 'Well, I shall be
heartily obliged; for I begin to find a man may practise resignation
all his days, as he takes physic, and not come to like it in the
end.'
'If you will have the papers drawn, you may even burthen the
purchase with your interest,' said Otto. 'Let it be assured to you
through life.'
'Your friend, sir,' insinuated Killian, 'would not, perhaps, care to
make the interest reversible? Fritz is a good lad.'
'Fritz is young,' said the Prince dryly; 'he must earn
consideration, not inherit.'
'He has long worked upon the place, sir,' insisted Mr. Gottesheim;
'and at my great age, for I am seventy-eight come harvest, it would
be a troublesome thought to the proprietor how to fill my shoes. It
would be a care spared to assure yourself of Fritz. And I believe
he might be tempted by a permanency.'
'The young man has unsettled views,' returned Otto.
'Possibly the purchaser - ' began Killian.
A little spot of anger burned in Otto's cheek. 'I am the
purchaser,' he said.
'It was what I might have guessed,' replied the farmer, bowing with
an aged, obsequious dignity. 'You have made an old man very happy;
and I may say, indeed, that I have entertained an angel unawares.
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