Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle (ereader manga txt) ๐
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- Author: Howard Pyle
Read book online ยซOtto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle (ereader manga txt) ๐ยป. Author - Howard Pyle
Rap-tap-tap! He knocked at the door with a knotted end of the crooked thorned staff upon which he leaned. He waited for a while and then knocked againโrap-tap-tap!
Presently, with a click, a little square wicket that pierced the door was opened, and a womanโs face peered out through the iron bars.
The one-eyed Hans whipped off his leathern cap.
โGood day, pretty one,โ said he, โand hast thou any need of glass beads, ribbons, combs, or trinkets? Here I am come all the way from Gruenstadt, with a pack full of such gay things as thou never laid eyes on before. Here be rings and bracelets and necklaces that might be of pure silver and set with diamonds and rubies, for anything that thy dear one could tell if he saw thee decked in them. And all are so cheap that thou hast only to say, โI want them,โ and they are thine.โ
The frightened face at the window looked from right to left and from left to right. โHush,โ said the girl, and laid her finger upon her lips. โThere! thou hadst best get away from here, poor soul, as fast as thy legs can carry thee, for if the Lord Baron should find thee here talking secretly at the postern door, he would loose the wolf-hounds upon thee.โ
โPrut,โ said one-eyed Hans, with a grin, โthe Baron is too big a fly to see such a little gnat as I; but wolf-hounds or no wolf-hounds, I can never go hence without showing thee the pretty things that I have brought from the town, even though my stay be at the danger of my own hide.โ
He flung the pack from off his shoulders as he spoke and fell to unstrapping it, while the round face of the lass (her eyes big with curiosity) peered down at him through the grated iron bars.
Hans held up a necklace of blue and white beads that glistened like jewels in the sun, and from them hung a gorgeous filigree cross. โDidst thou ever see a sweeter thing than this?โ said he; โand look, here is a comb that even the silversmith would swear was pure silver all the way through.โ Then, in a soft, wheedling voice, โCanst thou not let me in, my little bird? Sure there are other lasses besides thyself who would like to trade with a poor peddler who has travelled all the way from Gruenstadt just to please the pretty ones of Trutz-Drachen.โ
โNay,โ said the lass, in a frightened voice, โI cannot let thee in; I know not what the Baron would do to me, even now, if he knew that I was here talking to a stranger at the postern;โ and she made as if she would clap to the little window in his face; but the one-eyed Hans thrust his staff betwixt the bars and so kept the shutter open.
โNay, nay,โ said he, eagerly, โdo not go away from me too soon. Look, dear one; seest thou this necklace?โ
โAye,โ said she, looking hungrily at it.
โThen listen; if thou wilt but let me into the castle, so that I may strike a trade, I will give it to thee for thine own without thy paying a barley corn for it.โ
The girl looked and hesitated, and then looked again; the temptation was too great. There was a noise of softly drawn bolts and bars, the door was hesitatingly opened a little way, and, in a twinkling, the one-eyed Hans had slipped inside the castle, pack and all.
โThe necklace,โ said the girl, in a frightened whisper.
Hans thrust it into her hand. โItโs thine,โ said he, โand now wilt thou not help me to a trade?โ
โI will tell my sister that thou art here,โ said she, and away she ran from the little stone hallway, carefully bolting and locking the further door behind her.
The door that the girl had locked was the only one that connected the postern hail with the castle.
The one-eyed Hans stood looking after her. โThou fool!โ he muttered to himself, โto lock the door behind thee. What shall I do next, I should like to know? Here am I just as badly off as I was when I stood outside the walls. Thou hussy! If thou hadst but let me into the castle for only two little minutes, I would have found somewhere to have hidden myself while thy back was turned. But what shall I do now?โ He rested his pack upon the floor and stood looking about him.
Built in the stone wall opposite to him, was a high, narrow fireplace without carving of any sort. As Hansโ one eye wandered around the bare stone space, his glance fell at last upon it, and there it rested. For a while he stood looking intently at it, presently he began rubbing his hand over his bristling chin in a thoughtful, meditative manner. Finally he drew a deep breath, and giving himself a shake as though to arouse himself from his thoughts, and after listening a moment or two to make sure that no one was nigh, he walked softly to the fireplace, and stooping, peered up the chimney. Above him yawned a black cavernous depth, inky with the soot of years. Hans straightened himself, and tilting his leathern cap to one side, began scratching his bullet-head; at last he drew a long breath. โYes, good,โ he muttered to himself; โhe who jumps into the river must eโen swim the best he can. It is a vile, dirty place to thrust oneโs self; but I am in for it now, and must make the best of a lame horse.โ
He settled the cap more firmly upon his head, spat upon his hands, and once more stooping in the fireplace, gave a leap, and up the chimney he went with a rattle of loose mortar and a black trickle of soot.
By and by footsteps sounded outside the door. There was a pause; a hurried whispering of womenโs voices; the twitter of a nervous laugh, and then the door was pushed softly opens and the girl to whom the one-eyed Hans had given the necklace of blue and white beads with the filigree cross hanging from it, peeped uncertainly into the room. Behind her broad, heavy face were three others, equally homely and stolid; for a while all four stood there, looking blankly into the room and around it. Nothing was there but the peddlerโs knapsack lying in the middle of the floor-the man was gone. The light of expectancy slowly faded Out of the girlโs face, and in its place succeeded first bewilderment and then dull alarm. โBut, dear heaven,โ she said, โwhere then has the peddler man gone?โ
A moment or two of silence followed her speech. โPerhaps,โ said one of the others, in a voice hushed with awe, โperhaps it was the evil one himself to whom thou didst open the door.โ
Again there was a hushed and breathless pause; it was the lass who had let Hans in at the postern, who next spoke.
โYes,โ said she, in a voice trembling with fright at what she had done, โyes, it
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