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CHAPTER XXVI. 



PEPl'S COTTAGE. 



In looking through Mr. Haag's portfolio, I one day saw 

 a very fine sketch of a bandit-like figure with a rifle, and 

 which he had treated as " a poacher." 



" Who's that?" I asked. 



" That 's c Schiitzen Pepi,' he replied, " a most pic- 

 turesque fellow. I was at his cottage yesterday, and if 

 you like we'll go there some day together. If we could 

 manage to find out when there was a ' Heimgarten,' 

 'twould be all the better, for that's a curious scene, 

 and well worth seeing." 



"What is a Heimgarten?" I inquired. 



" Sometimes the young people of the neighbourhood 

 agree to go on a certain evening to a house they have 

 fixed on ; and then, when the day's work is done, they 

 all pour in there to dance and sing, and amuse them- 

 selves as they best may. It is a sort of evening party 

 to which the guests come uninvited, just as when a lady 

 opens her salons on certain days, and announces she 

 will be ' at home.' But you will see what it is, and I 

 am sure it will amuse you." 



From all I heard of Pepi, he seemed to be so ori- 

 ginal a fellow, that I set off one evening to pay him 

 a visit. His dwelling was as picturesque as his person, 



Y 



