Heinzelmann leant over the door, and for a time looked at his family in silence. The past came before his mind as pleasant pictures. "What a fool was I!" he said inwardly to himself; "what more blessed happiness can there be, than the happiness in the circle of one's own family! What a fool was I, not to see this long ago: that I could so long be blinded by stupid vanity and foolish pride! But there is yet time, and I will not let it escape."
"Margaret," he said aloud, and with friendly voice.
"Baptist--is that you? and so early!" she cried, and sprang up; "and what do I see? in the old cap and jacket! Are you not going out again?"
"Not to-day, nor to-morrow, nor afterward," answered he, smiling. "With the old dress, I have found again my old heart. The skin is nearer than the fleece, my Margaret, my good, dear wife!"
"Oh, goodness!" she exclaimed, "what do you say? what do I hear? am I not in a dream?"
"If you are dreaming that the old contentment has come back again," replied Baptist, "then is your dream a true one. I have grown wise at last, Margaret."
"Thank God!" stammered the Frau; "and instead of handling the pen, you will now work with the plane--will you?"
"Yes, Margaret, stick to that which I know, and leave it to others to bungle at politics. In short, I have given up my post--I am no longer town-councilor. I am now only what I was before--Tischlermeister Baptist Heinzelmann! Am I welcome to you as such?"
With a shriek of delight, Frau Margaret fell into her husband's open arms. Long and close was their embrace, and the sense of newly-quickened joy brought sweet tears from the wife's heart. The children understood not what was going on; but they saw that their father was glad and contented, and they were glad and contented too. Until late at night, they sat together in the garden, rejoicing in their new-found happiness.
Baptist became truly the Tischlermeister of former days, and suffered himself to be no more drawn into temptation. A burnt child shuns the fire; and he knew now the difference between family joys and worldly joys. His late friends and companions came entreating him to take part once more in their proceedings, but Baptist put them off with a laugh, and answered, "Not so, dear friends--the skin is nearer than the fleece! In-doors there, at the work-bench, is my post. Other people understand politics and government better than I--I leave the task to them."