We left the forester's house, where the forester's pretty wife, holding a child on her arm, greeted us. Our way lay along the crest of the mountain, and looked down into the valley, where the haystacks were scattered about the meadow, in the hollow, and along the hillside. Ludwig said: "Whenever I thought of home, this view of the valley always came back to me. I was walking here once with Ernst, while he was yet quite a little fellow, and he said to me, 'Ludwig, look at the haystacks. Don't they look like a scattered herd of cows on the meadow?'" He must have noticed that his allusion to Ernst had agitated me, and he added, "Father, we must be strong enough to think calmly of the dead and of the lost ones." When we passed the woods that belonged to Uncle Linker and me, Ludwig was delighted to find how nicely they had been kept. He then inquired about Martella, and when I said that she had a strange aversion to America, and disliked to hear it mentioned, he replied: "Do you not believe, father, that she has an unexplained, and perhaps sad, past, which is in some way associated with America?" I was startled;--the case seemed to present new and puzzling difficulties. Ludwig was pleased with the meadow-valley where he had arranged the trench with sluices. In very good seasons, there were four crops; but one was always sure of at least three. The value of the meadow-farmer's property had in this way been doubled. Down by the saw-mill, we met Carl, who was just using the windlass to drag a large beam from the wagon. He turned around as we approached and saluted us, and Ludwig's wife said, "What a handsome fellow! He is just as I have imagined all your countrymen to be." We alighted, and walked up the hill and on towards the village. When Ludwig saw the churchyard, he removed his hat from his head, remained standing for a moment in silence, and then walked on briskly. At the steps of the house he extended his hand to his wife and said, "Welcome to the house of my parents!" Martella was standing on the piazza: she stood there immovable, holding herself by the railing. "That pretty girl there, with large staring eyes, is Ernst's betrothed, I presume?" said Ludwig. I said, "Yes." We went up the steps and entered the room. Without speaking a word, Martella offered her hand to every one of the new arrivals. She seemed absent minded and was silent. My daughter-in-law and Wolfgang were surprised to find that we still had fires in our stoves. A little pleasantry at once made us all feel at home with one another. I told my new daughter-in-law how happily I had lived with my wife, but that even we had been obliged to adapt ourselves to each other's ways.