sighed. The little girl
apparently wanted to be paid for her service. She grudgingly relinquished one
of her small copper coins and sent her on her way.
When Liesel had finished packing up all
of the pottery, she plopped back down onto her stool.
“Are you waiting for someone?” the old
man asked as he finished collecting his jewelry.
“My … betrothed is coming for me.”
“Would you like me to stay with you
until he gets here?”
“No, I will be fine. I am sure he will
arrive soon ….” she responded without enthusiasm.
The old man looked down at her with
apparent compassion. “Today was a slow day. I’m sure you’ll have more success
tomorrow.”
“We’ll see.” She wasn’t convinced.
Multitudes of people had traveled along the lane that day and obviously her
success had been slim.
“Just wait. All you need is a little
time. Farewell. I’m certain I’ll see you soon.”
“Good night, Albert.”
“Safe journey home, Liesel.”
Hardly any time had passed after
Albert’s departure before Roderick appeared.
“How was your first day in the market?”
he inquired in greeting.
She made a face. She doubted he was interested
in hearing what she really thought about it.
“Didn’t you have any luck selling
anything?”
“I did, but …” She wasn’t sure how to
reveal the bad news.
“But?” he prompted. “What did you sell?”
“I sold a jug and a vase, and had a cup …
run away.”
“What?”
“A little boy stole the cup! I didn’t
even see him do it! The sneaky little thing took it when I was putting
everything away!”
“You need to be more careful, Liesel. At
least it was just a cup. But it could be something else next time. Something
more valuable. We can’t afford to lose anything. Not even a cup.”
“I’m sorry,” she exclaimed in
frustration. “I didn’t know someone would do such a thing!”
“Of course someone would do such a
thing! You have to be on your guard in the city. I thought you would know
better!”
He tried to set aside his frustrations
before continuing, “But enough on that. Let’s see how much you earned today.”
She could tell he was straining his
voice to sound more cheerful.
Liesel withdrew the three copper coins
from her pocket and held them out for him to see.
“Where’s the rest of it?”
“There is no ‘rest of it.’ This is it.”
“What?”
“Well, there was more, but I had to give
one of my coins to the little girl who informed me of the thief.”
His eyes widened in astonishment.
“She fairly demanded it,” Liesel
defended. “I think she’d still be here if I hadn’t. I didn’t have a choice.”
Roderick placed his hands on Liesel’s
shoulders. “Liesel, every one of the items I gave you to sell is worth
more than you made today. Even the lost cup. Just the jug alone should have
fetched at least 20 copper pieces!”
Liesel thrust his hands away. “Well,
whose fault is it that I didn’t know? You just dropped me here this morning
without any kind of real instructions. You can hardly be mad at me for not
instinctively knowing what you wanted me to do and how to do it!”
Roderick closed his eyes and rubbed the
bridge between them. After a sigh, he confessed, “You are right.”
“Then I can be done with all of this and
return to spinning?”
“Of course not.”
Liesel threw her hands up in the air.
“And why not?”
“Because I’m not giving up on you yet,”
he returned with a smile.
“I think you should,” she countered.
“Why should I have to pay the price of your stubbornness?”
“Because you can do it.”
She folded her arms in defiance, but he
paid her no heed. Instead, he picked up the handcart and nodded that she should
follow him.
“Come, Liesel. We have no time to waste.
As soon as we get home, I have some teaching to do.”
Liesel dragged her feet forward. She was
in no hurry to return to the hut.
Chapter Eight
A s
soon as they arrived home, Roderick retrieved their