How long that evening was!How the three or fourhours stretched into eternity!Grandmother sang a psalmand prayed with Mother to the good God for their littlePeer，that he might this evening also be Lucky Peer.Thehands of the clock moved slowly.
"Now Peer is beginning，"they said."Now he is inthe middle.Now he has finished."The mother and grand-mother looked at each other，but they didn't say anotherword.
In the streets there was the rumbling of carriages;people were driving home from the theater.The two womenlooked down from the window;the people who were passingtalked in loud voices;they had come from the theater;what they knew would bring either gladness or sadness upinto the garret of the merchant's house.
At last someone came up the stairs.Madam Hof burstin，followed by her husband.She flung herself about theneck of the mother and grandmother，but didn't say aword.She wept and sobbed.
"Lord God"said Mother and Grandmother."Howdid everything go for Peer?"
"Let me weep!"said Madam Hof，who was so moved，so overcome."I cannot bear it.Ah，you dearpeople，you cannot bear it，either!"And her tearsstreamed down.
"Have they hissed him off?"cried Mother.
"No，not that!"said Madam Hof."They have-oh，that I should live to see it!"
Then both Mother and Grandmother wept.
"Be calm，Emilie，"said Herr Hof."Peer has con-quered!He has triumphed!They clapped so much thatthe house nearly tumbled down!I can still feel it in myhands.It was one storm of applause from the first row tothe gallery.The entire royal family clapped，too.Really，It was what one may call a red-letter day in the annals ofthe theater.It was more than talent-it was genius."
"Yes， genius!"said Madam Hof;"those are mywords.God bless you，Hof，because you said them forme!You good people，never would I have believed thatone could both sing and act like that，though I have livedthrough a theater's whole history."She cried again;Mother and Grandmother laughed，while tears still randown their cheeks.
"Now sleep well on that，"said Herr Hof."Comealong，Emilie.Cood night，good night!"
They left the garret room and two happy peoplethere.These two were not alone long.The door opened，and Peer，who hadn't promised to come before the nextforenoon，stood in the room.He well knew how the oldpeople had followed him in their thoughts，how ignorant，too，they still must be of his success，and when drivingby the house with the singing master，he had stopped out-side;with the light still burning up in the garret，he hadfelt he must go to them.
"Splendid，glorious，superb!All went well!"heexclaimed jubilantly，and kissed his mother and hisgrandmother.The singing master nodded with a beamingface and pressed their hands.
"And now he must go home and have some rest，"hesaid.And the late visit was over.
"Our Father in heaven，how gracious and good Youare!"said these two poor women.They talked far into thenight about Peer.Everywhere in the great city peopletalked about him-the young，handsome，wonderful singer.Lucky Peer had gone that far.
ⅩⅢ
With great fanfare，the morning paper told of the de-but as something out of the ordinary，the drama critic re-serving his privilege of expressing his opinion in a followingissue.The merchant invited Peer and the singing master toa grand dinner.It was an observance-a testimony of hisand his wife's interest in the young man，who had beenborn in the house，in the same year and on the very sameday as their own son.
The merchant made a beautiful speech and proposed atoast to the singing master，the man who had found andpolished this"Precious stone，"a name one of the promi-nent papers had called Peer.Felix sat by his side and wasthe soul of gaiety and affection.After dinner he brought outhis own cigars;they were better than the merchant's."Hecan afford to get them，"said the latter;"he has a rich fa-ther."Peer did not smoke-a great fault，but one whichcould be remedied easily enough.