"Coom in! Coom in by mine fire," she cried. "Ach! der poor kinder oudt in dis vedder yedt. Idt iss your deaths mit cold you vould catch--no?"
Ruth explained to the big-hearted German widow how they came to be struggling in the storm at such an hour.
"Undt dot boy iss vet? Ach! Ledt him his feet dake off qvick! Maria! make de chocolate hot. Undt de poy--ach! I haf somedings py mine closet in, for _him_."
She bustled away to reappear in a moment with a tiny glass of something that almost strangled Neale when he drank it, but, as he had to admit, "it warmed 'way down to the ends of his toes!"
"Oh, this is _fine_!" Agnes declared, ten minutes later, when she was sipping her hot chocolate. "I _love_ the snow--and this was almost like getting lost in a blizzard."
Mrs. Kranz shook her head. "Say nodt so--say nodt so," she rumbled. "Dis iss pad yedt for de poor folk. Yah! idt vill make de coal go oop in brice."
"Yes," said Maria, softly. "My papa says he will have to charge twelve cents a pail for coal to-morrow, instead of ten. He has to pay more."
"I never thought of _that_ side of it," confessed Agnes, slowly. "I suppose a snow storm like this _will_ make it hard for poor people."
"Undt dere iss blenty poor folk all about us," said Mrs. Kranz, shaking her head. "Lucky you are, dot you know noddings about idt."
"Why shouldn't we know something about it?" demanded Ruth, quickly. "Do you mean there will be much suffering among _our_ tenants because of this storm, Mrs. Kranz?"
"Gott sie dank! nodt for _me_," said the large lady, shaking her head. "Undt not for Maria's fadder. Joe Maroni iss doin' vell. But many are nodt so--no. Undt der kinder----"
"Let's give them all a Christmas," exclaimed Ruth, having a sudden bright, as well as kind, thought. "I'll ask Mr. Howbridge. You shall tell us of those most in need, Mrs. Kranz--you and Maria."
"Vell dem poor Goronofskys iss de vorst," declared the grocery-store woman, shaking her head.
Ruth and Agnes remembered the reported riches in Sadie Goronofsky's bank, but although they looked at each other, they said nothing about it.
"Sadie has an awful hard time," said Maria.
"De sthep-mudder does nodt treat her very kindly----Oh, I know! She has so many kinder of her own. Sadie vork all de time ven she iss de school oudt."