him?"

"Of course it was," said Catharine; "the fact was, our good doctor
loved his wife better than the queen, and all the high born people
who treated him so well in England. And, besides, he knew that
people hereabouts treat him with as much deference as over there,
and that if he only desired it, he could hold daily intercourse with
the emperor, the princes, and the highest dignitaries in the
country. But he does not care for it. The fact is, our master is by
far too modest; he is always so quiet and unassuming, that nobody,
unless they knew him, would believe for a single moment that he is
so far-famed a man; and then he dresses so plainly, while he might
deck himself with all the diamond rings and breast-pins, the
splendid watches and chains, which the various sovereigns have given
to him. But all these fine things he keeps shut up in his desk, and
constantly wears the old silver watch which he has had already God
knows how long!"

"Why, Catharine, that was the wedding-present I gave him," said the
good wife, proudly; "and just for that reason my husband wears it
all the time, although he has watches by far more beautiful and
valuable. At the time I gave him that watch, both of us were very
poor. He was a young music-teacher, and I was a hairdresser's
daughter. He lived in a small room in my father's house, and as he
often could not pay the rent, he gave me every day a lesson on the
piano. But in those lessons, I did not only learn music--I learned
to love him, too. He asked me to become his wife, and on our
wedding-day, I gave him the silver watch, and that is just the
reason why he wears it all the time, although he has by far better
ones. His wife's present is more precious to him than what kings and