"Why, Kate! how can you----" "Be quiet, father!" interrupted Catherine, again. "He shall have his freedom," cried the baron, eagerly, "and the cup to boot." "We do not want the cup, my lord," answered wise Catherine. "Yes, but we do!" cried Peter; for, as the prospect of his pardon increased, respect for his daughter's wisdom diminished in direct ratio. "You shall have it!" cried the baron; "release him, guards!" "One thing more," said Catherine; "a proclamation must be issued stating that you will never arrest my father again in connection with this affair." "It shall be done!" said the baron; upon which he dismissed them both with the golden cup, which Peter had accepted in spite of his daughter's protestations. That same afternoon the proclamation was issued, and Catherine carried a large gray goose to Castle Dunderhead. "Father," said she, when she returned, "since you have accepted the golden cup, you must leave this place, for the baron will always look enviously upon you. Had you left it with him he would have paid no more attention to you, but now it is different." "Why so?" said Peter; "hasn't the baron given his promise that he will never arrest me or mine again? And about that goose----" [Illustration: "A PAGE WAS APPOINTED TO ESCORT IT."] "Never mind the goose, father," interrupted Kate. "I say again that every egg the goose lays _shall_ be of pure gold." "Well, I'm sure I don't understand it," said Peter, testily; "and, moreover, I am _not_ going to leave Kaboutermannekensburg. The idea of _your_ trying to teach _me_ wisdom!" "No, I could never do that," murmured Kate, with a sigh. "No, I should think not, indeed!" said Peter, pompously. The baron could not make enough of his goose. He had a splendid pen made for it, of ebony inlaid with silver, the nest was of purest eider-down, and a special page was appointed to escort it every morning to the water and back. It was fed upon sweet herbs and sponge-cake; it grew enormously fat; and, as time went on, its voice, its appetite, and its healthy condition increased to an astonishing extent. Only one thing troubled the baron, and that was it did not lay. Every day he himself went to the nest expecting to find the much-looked-for golden egg, and every day he did _not_ find it. So matters continued for a long time. One morning, as Kate and her father were at breakfast, a squad of soldiers, headed by the high-sheriff, marched into the house. "Peter Kurtz and Catherine Kurtz, you are to consider yourselves under arrest," said the sheriff. "But the baron has issued a proclamation that he will never arrest me again," said poor Peter. "You are arrested," continued the sheriff, without paying the slightest attention to Peter, "in the king's name, upon suit of the Baron von Dunderhead, for obtaining goods under false pretense." Catherine said never a word--not even "I told you so"--but submitted, whilst poor Peter cried like a very child.