Page:Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations (Volume 2).djvu/107

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The Spectre Barber.
95

kind answer. “Since you are so anxious to learn,” he said, “why I have waited here so patiently the whole day; I must tell you that a friend promised to meet me here, who has, however, made me wait in vain.”

“With your permission,” said the cripple, “your friend, whoever he be, is a scoundrel, thus to make a fool of you. If he had treated me so, whenever I met him I would make him feel the weight of my crutch. If he were prevented from coming, he should have let you know, and not have treated you like a school boy.”

“I must not condemn him,” said Frank, “he did not exactly promise. It was only in a dream that bade me wait for him.” It was too tedious just then for him to tell the story of the ghost, he therefore changed it into a dream.

“That is another thing;” said the old man, “if you believe in dreams, I dont wonder that you should be disappointed. I have had many mad dreams in my life, but I never was fool enough to take notice of them. If I had all the money that has been promised me in my