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Show 74 Chapter 11 "...but they say they'll give you one schilling a week if you will stay in Hamelin and become our town musician," Hilde went on. "Oh Gast, I'm so ashamed of my father and the others." Her lips trembled as tears rose to her eyes. "To think they owe you three hundred schillings, and they have the shamelessness to offer you one schilling a week to...." "I'll take it." "What!" Hilde and I were both too astonished to believe what Gast was saying. "I will stay in Hamelin as your town musician for one schilling a week." "Do you mean it? You will stay here? Oh Gast...!" Hilde's tears began to spill over, but she was smiling. "Don't cry, my little one. Yes, I will stay. For as long as it pleases me." I wished that I were as happy as Hilde. Of course I was pleased that I would not be separated from Gast just yet, but if he stayed in Hamelin it would mean the end of my dream to go away with him. I would be back in the bake shop slaving from daybreak to darkness, with no more leisure hours to wander in the forests with Gast or to sit beside him under the arch of the bridge. A heavy coldness settled inside my chest. He noticed my woebegone expression and put a hand on the back |