The years pass by in monotony and solitude; why does no one call me the
Einspanig?
The young wife afterwards changed her mind and the summer villa now
stands in the glen by the lake. It is very lively there for a few weeks
in the early autumn, and the happy home of our master's family is
watched over by the grim mountains.
The forester, now a grandfather, lives with his wife the entire year in
this house, and the brothers and sisters of Frau von Schrankenheim may
hope for a better lot than was prophesied at their cradle.
The old Herr von Schrankenheim was blessed with two grandchildren before
he died in Salzburg in the winter of 1840.
Winkelsteg has gained nothing by the house in the glen. A good road has
been built to it, and it has now become the headquarters for
superintending the forest. Strangers visit the place, and there the
great hunting-parties are organised. In the glen, formerly so lonely
and neglected, now stands the _manor-house_; but Winkelsteg remains the
same poor parish for peasants and wood-cutters, and the condition of
things here is not improving, and the schoolmaster--let us not think
about that, Andreas.
I recently sewed a number of sheets of paper together for a
writing-book, the cover of which I have made from white linden-wood. In
this book I now lead a secret life, unknown to anyone.[#]
[#] This _writing-book_ was not discovered among the records.--The
Editor.