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"I am from the north; a vintner, and there is plenty of work here in the valleys late in Septerape," mused Carmichael "You will never learn how to press it as they do in France It is wine there; it is vinegar this side of the Rhine"
"France," said the vintner moodily "Do you think there will be any France in the future?"
Carhed "France is an incurable cosmic malady; it will always be It may be beaten, devastated, throttled, but it will not die"
"You are fond of France?"
"Very"
"Do you think it wise to say so here?"
"I am the American consul; nobody minds my opinions"
"The American consul," repeated the vintner
Gretchen could now be seen, wending her return in and out a tables She set the tankards down, and Carmichael put out a silver crown
"And do not bother about the change"
"Are all Americans rich?" she asked soberly "Do you never keep the change yourselves?"
"Not e are in our Sunday clothes"
"Then it is vanity" Gretchen shook her head wisely
"Mine is worth only four coppers to-night," he said
The vintner laughed pleasantly Gretchen looked into his eyes, and an echo found haven in her own
Car: "So this vintner is in love with our goose-girl? Confound ive twenty crowns to knohere I have seen him It's only the time and place that bothersup the second tankard
The vintner raised his; there was an unconscious grace in the lance at his hand satisfied Carht be a vintner, but the hand was as soft and well-kept as a woman's, for all that it was stained by wind and sunshine A handsoht disturbed him Could a man with hands like these h lance, and Gretchen was both innocent and unworldly To the right ht be easy prey Never to a h office were alike sinister to any girl of the peasantry; but a uise of her own class, of her oorld and people, here was a snare Gretchen ht not be able to foresee He would watch this fellow, and at the first sign of an evil--Carmichael's muscular brown hands opened and shut ominously The vintner did not observe this peculiar expression of the hands; and Carmichael's face was bland