"Angels and ministers of grace defend us! A man has only to take a journey--!"
Uncle Henry drops the door-knob. He has such a queer sensation--he does not like emotion--and he does not like to disturb other people. He would gladly get out of the way if he could--perhaps he may manage it yet.
And he comes in and behaves exactly as if nothing had ever happened. It is the purest selfishness on his part. Scenes don't agree with him.
"I wanted just to see how you were--you seem to have had a nice little fire," he begins.
"Thank God! No lives were lost," said Linden, "and no cattle were burnt; the crops are all destroyed, it is true; but in place of that a new life has risen out of the ashes." And he held out his sound hand to Gertrude.
"Oh, ta, ta!" murmured Uncle Henry, helping himself hurriedly to ham and to butter. "I tell you, children, travelling is a great deal too hard work, and if it were not for the lobsters in Heligoland and the eel-soup in Hamburg, then--but, Gertrude, you are laughing and crying at the same time! Well, well, I am glad to be home again; there is nothing like home, after all, and with your permission, I will drink this glass of good port wine to your health and to the peace and prosperity of your household."
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Gertrude's Marriage, by W. Heimburg