Page - 83 - in The Forest Farm - Tales of the Austrian Tyrol

water, will you?” After drinking he said, “Ah, fresh water is a good thing after all! Take good care of the well. Yes, and don’t let me forget, the black breeches and the blue jacket—you know—and outside behind the door, where the saws hang, there leans the planing board; lay it across the grindstone and the bench—it will serve for the three days. To-morrow early, when Woodman Josel comes, he’ll help to lay me out. But mind that the cat isn’t about; cats are attracted and know at once when there is a corpse anywhere. It’s all arranged what they’ll do with me down at the Parish Church.—My brown coat and the big hat, give them to the poor. And to Peter you must give something because of his coming up here. Perhaps he will be good enough to read to-morrow. It will be a fine day to-morrow, but don’t go far from home, for fear an accident might happen, when there’s candles left burning in the entrance. Later on, Anne, look in the bedstraw and you will find an old stocking with a few gold pieces in it.” “Seppel, don’t exert yourself with talking so much,” sobbed the wife. “Well, well, Anne—but I must tell you everything. We’ll not be much longer together now. We have had twenty years, Anne. You have been everything to me; no one can repay you for what you have been to me. I shall never forget it, not in death, nor in heaven neither. I am only glad that in my last hour I am still able to talk to you, and that I am clear in my head to the last.” “Don’t fret yourself, Seppel,” murmured the wife, bending over him. “No,” he answered quietly, “with me it’s just as it was with my father: content in life, content in death. You be the same, and don’t take it too much to heart. Even though each of us must go as we came, alone, still we belong to each other and I shall keep you a place in heaven, Anne, close by my side. Only, for God’s sake, bring the children up well.” The children lay quiet. It was very still, and it seemed to me as if, somewhere in the room, I could hear a slight whirring and humming. Suddenly, Seppel called out, “Now, Anne, light the candle, quick!” The woman ran about the room looking for matches, and yet the torch was still burning. “Now he is going to die!” she moaned. When at last the red wax-taper was alight, and she had given it him and he held it clasped with both his hands, and she had taken the vessel of holy water from the shelf, she became apparently quite calm and prayed aloud: “Jesus, Mary, help him! Oh, Saints of God, stand by him in his direst need, do not let his soul be lost! Jesus, I pray by Thy holiest suffering! Mary, I call upon Thy