"No--she, in a way, is an adopted child. My father was her guardian." The farmer knew very well that charity of this kind conduced to the credit of a house, and he therefore avoided saying outright that Barefoot was a maid. Barefoot felt inwardly glad that the stranger knew something about her. "If he is wise," she reflected, "he will be sure to ask me about Rose. Then an opportunity will come for me to save him from a misfortune." Rose brought in the supper, and the stranger was quite surprised to find that such good fare could be made ready so quickly--he did not know that it had all been prepared beforehand. Rose apologized by asking him to make shift with their plain fare, though he was doubtless accustomed to better things at home. She reckoned, not without acuteness, that the mention of a well-deserved fame would be gratifying to any one. Barefoot was told to remain in the kitchen that day, and to give all the dishes into Rose's hands. She entreated over and over again: "For goodness sake, tell me who he is! What's his name?"--but Rose gave her no answer. The mistress, however, at last solved the mystery by saying: "You can tell her now--it's John, the son of Farmer Landfried of Zumarshofen. Amrei, you've a keepsake from her, haven't you?" "Yes, yes," replied Barefoot; and she was obliged to sit down by the hearth, for her knees trembled under her. How wonderful all this was! And so he was the son of her first benefactress! "Now he must be told! If the whole village stones me for it, I shan't bear it!" she said to herself. The stranger started to go, and his hosts escorted him to the door; but on the steps he turned about and said: "My pipe has gone out--and I like best to light it for myself with a coal." He evidently wanted to see how things looked in the kitchen. Rose pushed in ahead of him and handed him a coal with the tongs, standing, as she did so, directly in front of Barefoot, who was still sitting on the hearth by the chimney. [Late that night Barefoot went out to find somebody whom she could get to warn the stranger not to marry Rose. She knew of nobody to whom she dared intrust so delicate a commission; she thought of Damie, but remembered that he was not allowed to enter the village. Finally, wet and chilled, as a result of wandering about through the fields barefoot, she returned home and went to bed.] CHAPTER XV BANISHED AND RELEASED The following morning, when Barefoot awoke, she found the necklace that she had once received from Dame Landfried lying on her bed, and she had to think for some time before she remembered that she herself had taken it out the night before, and had looked at it a long, long time. [Illustration: WHILE SHE WAS MILKING JOHN ASKED HER ALL KINDS OF QUESTIONS] When she started to get up, all her limbs felt numb; and clasping her hands with difficulty, she moaned: