Through Night to Light

o Act of Congress,

LDT &

of the District Cour

hern Distric

EOTY

BRO'S &

RN N

Night

t F

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n the forest-crowned tops the warm evening light was still aglow. The trees were gorgeous in their gay autumn livery, but in th

-kneed horses, and carefully provided with a huge drag-chain, which are hired in the cities for a few days' excursion into the mountains. The horses lagged, with drooping heads, heavily in their harness, and labored painfully step by step up the hill, for the road was steep and the carr

the elasticity belonging to their years. One, the smaller one, whose mouth and cheeks were nearly hid under a close, deep-black beard, would probably have been thought the more interesting of the two, as his finely-cut features, full of int

small broken stones, to the despair of horses and foot-passengers. Now, when they had passed the bad places, they approached each other again, a

the latter, turning his beautiful,

of the willow-fringed brook through the meadows. There is the village, a dirty place when seen near by, but now how beautiful it is, half veiled by its gay cloak of trees, and the blue columns of smoke, which rise straight up from the chimneys, and gradually dissolve on the sides of the mountains into blue, transparent clouds. And now these beautiful heights with their evergreens! how they rise one behind the other with their deep coloring. And now, here to our left, the glimpse of the blue mountains which we crossed this morning. And, above all, this marvellously fair sky, clear and deep and unfathomable, like the eye of some one w

ive manner, Oswald had looked with sad eyes into the far distance. Now, whe

ho is cursed with blindness, and never sees the well of contentment? We shall meet one of these unfortunate men to

wards the end assumed a passionate tone of bitterness. He was silent

see that the old dreams are as powerful as ever in you. You seemed to be almost cured of the fatal desire to sit down, like H

ge, and I am about once more to meet face to face the noble, unfortunate man to whom I owe so much, and that after an interval during which so much, so very much, has changed for him and for myself! I have followed your advice faithfully, as well as I could. I have let the past bury the past; I have practised industriously the art of fo

in you to maintain the position which you have yourself chosen, against every objection and every

t. I must see Berger and speak to him. This interview must be the test of the problem that has occup

of our long intimacy. Natural disposition and education, which jointly make the man, must in your case have been most strangely intermingled. I have so far always avoided speaking of your early youth, because I felt a natural reluctance to inquire after what you evidently did not care to reveal. But my friendship for you is greater than such con

as I am now doing, at a certain epoch of one's life, it is almost indispensable to trace that life back to the beginning. It is true y

more attentive," r

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y father was a teacher of languages, my mother the daughter of a mechanic. You see, therefore, that I have no claims to nobility, and that my

live in the little Pomeranian port W----. It is true I never knew much of the history of my parents and of all that happened before my birth.

with great, sweet blue eyes. She says in a soft tone some words which I do not understand, but which sound like the music of heaven, and always move me

the side of my little bed; he sat by me in the garret window and blew alternately with me bright soap-bubbles from a little clay pipe into the air; he taught me the alphabet and to make ships from the bark of trees

th large buckles, walking in sunshine or rain, always hat in hand, through the streets of the city. Imagine this figure ending in a disproportionately large head, with a well-set brow, bald on the temples, beneath which a pair of sharp eyes sent out flashes of lightning, and a face which, though fine and sharp o

te for any office, clerical or political, as far as I know, and, in spite of his enormous erudition, he would not have bee

the world, and who, therefore, was as carefully let alone by everybody else. Those who claimed to be men of refinement and religious convictions called him a cynic because he had emancipated himself from all social obligations; and an atheist, because he never appeared at

for all worldly tyranny, because it prevented him from acting freely. He openly declared a republic to be the only form of government under which a man who had the right point d'honneur could live happily. Every prerogative granted to one, to a few, or to the many, was to him an injustice, which could only be explained by the insolence of the ruler and the cowardice of the r

and whenever young men of noble birth proposed to take lessons from him, he immediately refused. Once, as we were firing at a target--a practice in which he excelled--he told me that in his youth he had hoped th

lived and suffered only for my sake, I still do not think he really loved me. He was a purely spiritual man. Either his heart had received, at some time or other, a fatal blow from which it had never recovered, or his sentiments had all evapora

en are represented in each. Love and Justice stand in the same relation to each other as individual and species. One can not exist without the other, for they need each other mutually. Justice can never te

Now I hardly wonder at it, since I have found out that nature probably never produced two beings more radically different than my father and myself. We were as unlike in body as in mind and in inclination. I loved already, as a boy, with perfect passion, everything brilliant and splendid, and whatever is beautiful in nature and the world

as hardly in keeping with his general views, and although he indulged me in my love of fine clothes and the comforts of life to a degree which I have never been able to comprehend, I knew nevertheless that he was deeply offended by this fondness of mine for a world which he despised. I tried,

e like a prison than anything else; and yet, what marvellously blessed hours I have spent in that room! From my window I had an unlimited view over the wall and the ramparts of the city--upon smooth

houghts as fair and bright, and, alas! as perishable as soap bubbles! I remember I often wrote verses in bright summer days and in dark autumn evenings, afterwards, while I was s

upon our mother and brothers and sisters and friends, for I could not feel any confidence in him who, as matters happened to stand, ought to have stood me in place of all of them. The constant intercourse with a mind so sombre and sceptical gave to my mind a coloring which was little in harmony with my sanguine and passionate disposition. I was an Epicurean sitting at the feet of a Stoic, a Syb

worldly wisdom. The letters which he wrote to me at regular intervals were in the same tone. There were not many of them; for about six months after I had left him I received a letter from the authorities of my native place, in which they dryly informed me of the death of my father. He had left me a little property, the

an, in whom the current of full youthful life had been so long artificially dammed up, avoid going astray? I became the hero of many an intrigue, of which I was in my heart thoroughly ashamed, as I ought to have been. I was spoilt by the women, and became the innocent victim of many a heartless coquette. I gathered much experience without growing any wiser--the wor

d me from the whirlpool in which I would have perished sooner o

. You will now also be able to understand why it was utterly impossible for me to resist the charm of Berger's extraordinary character, and how I entangl

ou have understood, and what may have remained an unexplained mystery for you. A part of these events I dare not touch upon; another part I am in duty bound to leave untouched. When the catastrophe came which you had anticipated, and the frivolous world in which I was living, crushed me--then you stood by me as a friend; you snatched me out of the confusion,

e to me first very dimly, then more and more clearly and distinctly, and finally filled my heart with triumphant certainty. This idea has given me that cheerful calmness without which life would in the end become unbearable. I said to myself: This world, of which you know after all but very little, is such an old, solid, and well-finished edifice that you need not give up the plan on which it was

once understood the solidarity of all human interests--that fundamental principle of all moral and political wisdom--knows also that his individual existence is but a drop in the vast stream, and that such a drop has no right to claim absolute independence. It would be different if men fell like ripe fruit from the trees. But we are brought into this world through the agony of a mother, in order to be the most helpless of all created beings, entirely dependent on the faithful care of parents; we are then allowed to grow up, if fate favors us

you could not be useful to the world, and the world could not be useful to you. Now, all this will be different. From friendship for me, you have made the sacrifice of taking a step which I know well--and better now than before--must be very painful to your whole nature. But I am convinced you will bless this step hereafter. The trial year which you mean to devote to the college at Grunwald will be in more senses than one a trial year for you. You will se

ut at the same time he felt painfully ashamed. For the face of truth is stern, and

cluded valley, surrounded on all sides by well-wooded hills, and veiled at this moment by the gray evening mists. It was the end of their day's journey, and for Oswald the place of his destination--a watering-place, called Fichtenau, renowned far and near on acc

days during which he knew she was at Fichtenau by the side of her unfortunate husband, and when he received from Fichtenau those letters in which every word was a longing kiss. In those days Fichtenau had appeared to him alternately the grave and the cradle of his happiness, as he at one moment fancied Berkow's death would remove all impediments in the way of his marrying Melitta, and then again feared the very same event might forever separate him from her. Then came the fatal day when he found out that the man whom he had from the beginning looked upon as his most formidable rival was with Melitta; when malicious tongues had whispered the most hateful explanations of this fact in his ear, and he, unhappy man, had but too readily listened to these abominable slanders. Alas! he had even then betrayed his own love by his own acts, and, like a ship-wrecked man, who, in order to save himself and his treasures, pitilessly pushes his best friend from the frail plank into the ocean, he had sacrificed Melitta in order to justify his passion for the fair Helen before the tribunal of his own heart! And fin

s case. Doctor Birkenhain had replied, that Berger's insanity consisted exclusively in the fixed idea of the absolute non-existence of all things, but that otherwise he was in full possession of all his mental powers, and would have been dismissed from the institution long since but for his own urgent desire to prolong his stay there. Doctor Braun knew perfectly well that un

hoped that the frequent intercourse with other men, the beneficent influence of a journey through a beautiful country, brilliant in all the glory of autumn, would bring

been possible. He sat casting now and then an anxious glance at Oswald, who, throwing himself back in his corner, looked with fixed eyes upon the little town

TER

their good supper of oats. They seemed to gather new strength from the shrill notes of a clarinet which were heard high above the unfailing roll of a big drum, from the midst of a close circle of men on the commons near the town-gate, who surrounded a band of rope-dancers. The road passed close by the place, and as the crowd of curious

artists were at that moment engaged in performing their masterpiece, with which they always

hrillness of the clarinet and the growing thunder of the big drum announced the coming of the great moment when the famous acrobat, Mr. John Cotterby, of Egypt, called the Flying Pigeon, would have the honor to perform, with permission of the authorities, his great feat, admired by all the potentates of

Mr. John Cotterby's fault, surely, that in the Thirty Years' War the Imperialists had shot to pieces the steeple of the little church on the public square of Fichtenau, which was then held by the Swedes. Nor was he to be blamed if the paternal government had now for two hundred years annually determined to rebuild the steeple, but never accomplished it yet. What could he do, Mr. John Cotterb

and the big drum, which were at that solemn moment reinforced by the tinkling of a triangle and the squeaking of a tuneless fiddle. He was a handsome, well-made man, and quite young; his dark curly hair was confined by a narrow band of brass, and his whole costume consisted of a s

them of their exclusive secret. But the applause ceased suddenly, when to the astonishment of the whole audience a huge, shapeless figure was seen climbing after the courteous artist upon the platform, and presenting him, after a hearty slap upon the place between the Icarus wings, with a long

rs and pointed at the place in his stockinet where people with trousers of larger dimensions indulge in pockets, in order to express his very evident inability to pay, and seemed to implore the landlord with much wringing of hands

inful intensity when next, upon a sign from the red-nosed landlord, two fellows with huge moustaches, in blue coats and black tri-cornered hats, came climbing up on the stage, and filled the hearts of the innocen

he great god Apollo knows how to lead his saints wonderfully out of troubles and trials, and to se

, with a wreath on the hair and a bright banner in the right hand. This was evidently the flag which Mr. John Cotterby, of Egypt, usually fetched down from a steeple four hundre

had gone up half-way he knelt down before the heavenly apparition, who had beckoned him on with unceasing waving of the flag, rose to his full height and made there, far above the earth and all earthly fear, a gesture towards his conscience-stricken pursuers, which is universally understood upon the earth. Loud applause and cheerful laughter accompanied the humorous artist up to the very heavens, where the genius handed him the flag, crowned him with the wreath, and then disappeared once more in th

nd highly-cultivated public of Fichtenau and the surrounding country on the next day a far more splendid representation. The audience dispersed very suddenly, for a suspicious ringing of money on tin plate

those who were not kept by honesty remained from curiosity to find out how the genius who dwelt in the branches of oak-trees might lo

such bewitching modesty and so imploringly into every face that the purses opened together with the hearts. Kindly words followed the child everywhere, and one or the other of th

er and his apotheosis with great interest, and now and then with hearty laughter, ordered him to stop till the genius should have made his way through the dense cr

change in his purse when he was

oking wonderingly up at Oswald, wh

hurried to meet the genius, who no sooner recognized the young man than he d

is it re

affectionately, still hanging on his neck; but then suddenly

her one th

well that the other of whom she spoke w

e and help me to collect the money again." And the child sto

ically obeying the child's injunction and unconscious of what he was d

rm embrace, more remarkable than anything they had seen that evening. Young and old they crowded around them, forming a clo

several weeks, until she had escaped from him one fine day, and, with that rapidity of combination which is often found in strong heads, he at once concluded that Oswald, who no doubt was in the baron's secret, had recognized the gypsy girl in th

least till the cro

s of collection interrupted at the critical moment, had made him forget that he still wore the costume of the red-nosed landlord, and that he, therefore, ought not to have mingled with the people unless he wished to sacrifice the dignity of his art. Franz was jus

d, who was still kneeling down with Czika) is rather eccentric. You underst

factory, since the possible loss was amply made up by the two silver dollars which Franz had

Only pray get him away quickly, so that

u staying?" i

lency will rejoice a poor artist's soul if you

d then turning to Oswald, wh

I know where these people are staying;

a in such company, now saw very clearly the extraordinary character of his positio

a few moments, and was going on with the collection as if nothing had happened. She did not

nvented with such admirable presence of mind, and dispersed all the more rapidly as the increasing coolness

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he low, simple houses. People were sitting around the stove after their frugal suppers, and the husband told his wife, who for good reasons had not been able to venture into a crowd, what wonderful feats of strength, agility, and skill he had seen outside of the town on the great meadow; how an insane gentleman had driven up wit

y knows that. My sainted great-grandfather lent a han

, and not far from the great meadow. The Green Hat was also the headquarters of all wandering rope-

ed himself of his coat and waistcoat, and who forgets, in the consciousness of his artistic fame and of his broad, richly-embroidered suspenders, that his linen is not of the cleanest. Mr. John Cotterby, of Egypt, who sat on the right hand of his lord and master, had been compelled to make a greater alteration in his toilette, especially since the artistic wardrobe boasted only of a single suit of stockinet, and it was therefore of the utmost importance for him to do all that could be done in order to preserve its delicate whiteness. Mr. John Cotterby, of Egypt, wore a short, gray coat with green trimmings, and would have looked, all in all, far more like a handsome Tyrolese (which was, by-the-by, his real character) than the son of the land of mystery

e eyes had been well pleased with the gigantic proportions of the Hercules, played a prominent part. When Mr. Schmenckel had emptied his third glass he was apt to become eloquent about this heroic age of his life, and tonight he had already more than doubled the myst

the great meadow, which had brought the madman and the Czika into contact with each other, was far too useful for such a purpose not to be fully employed by Mr. Schmenckel. It is true the gypsy and her child had joined his troop quite accidentally a few days ago, as they were making their way across the mountains towards Fichtenau, and Mr. Schmenckel kn

very mysterious story, and I should be quite ready to

d the remaining half, while his eyes twinkled with delight as he looked

Director!" cried

the Director!" cried

after having diminished the contents of the new glass to a

o Mr. John Cotterby, who leaned back

ing to do in Egyp

Cotterby?" aske

Egyptian, who could not imagine what his l

g but the Flying Pigeon. I said to myself: You must induce this man, the greatest artist whom the world ever saw, to join your company, as sure as your name is Caspar Schmenckel. No sooner said than done. I went to Egypt, where I was told Mr. Cotterby was then residing, but Mr.

sh to tell," replied the Egyptia

desert, and sworn a fearful oath that he would not again appear i

e pyramids?" i

was held by two thousand black slaves of his, and thus he walked up and down, so that those who saw it felt their hair stand on an end. That was the way I found Mr. Cotterby engaged in the desert, and of course I became more anxious than ever to engage him for our company; but he refused. What was I to do? I had nothing left but to climb a

ian nodde

with this pyramid. There is only one Schmenckel, as there is only one Cotterby; both ought to be together, like bread and butter. But that was not exactly what I was going t

tor Schmenckel," c

--or Kussuk Arnem, as her true name is. But that story is almost still more incredible, and

ell us!" exclaimed the listeners,

you take me to-morrow in the wheelbarrow which you carry up and down the rope, and then let me get out on the roof. I must see how things look up there. You can bring me back the same way the day after. Will you do it?' 'Why not?' says Cotterby, 'if you wish it particularly.' The next day the thing is done. I hide myself in the wheelbarrow. Cotterby carries me up to the roof; he turns the barrow over and there I am, on the roof, quite alone, for Cotterby had gone back immediately, so as to create no suspicion. Now you may believe it or not as you choose, gentlemen, but I assure you I felt rather peculiar in that position. How easily the head of a black guardsman might pop out through one of the openings in the roof--and then farewell to my sweet life! But there I was, caught in the trap, and I was determined not to leave again until I had a taste of the bait. While I was still considering what I had better do next, I suddenly hear the rattling o

same one who used to sit at the ticket office, and who attended to all the domestic affairs of the company; she whispered a few words in the director's ear, of which the company only heard one or two, which sounded like "woman--run away." The director did n

le house, in which he himself took the lead; it fell upon him like a flash of lightning from a clear sky. The escape of the gypsy woman was to him what the death of his best lioness and her cub would have been to the owner of a menagerie. He lost in the mother and child a capital which had cost him next to nothing, and which yet promised to produce abundant interest--the ornament, the glory, the poetry of his establishment. Even Mr. John Cotterby, of Egypt, might have been replaced more easily. Flying Pigeons are rare, but after all they can be procured; but a genius with such eyes, such deep, brown eyes, with such a kindly, serious smile, that could tempt the stingiest green-grocer to lavish profusion, was not to be found again. Mr. Schmenckel would not have been a man and a director, and above all he would have had to drink, instead of so many glasses of bitter beer, as many gallons of the milk of human kindness, if he had borne such a loss with stoic repose. Mr. Schmenckel was a man, he was a director, he had been drinking beer and not milk--and Mr. Schmenckel gave himself up to fearful wrath. The first explosion fell very naturally upon the bearer of the bad news, especially as M

of the Grand Sultan's own palace, in such a state of suffering. Mamselle Adele's attacks did not cease for a moment; they were even carried out with irresistible energy, force, and agility. Some wished to come to the assistance of the defeated general; others laughed and encouraged her; still others, men in blue blouses and heavy hob-nailed shoes, who were regular customers at the Green Hat with their wagons and horses, and bore no good-will to the rope-dancers, because they interfered with their accustomed comfort, spoke loud of "rabble," and "turn them out," a sentiment which in its turn displeased a few enthusiastic

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utiful child and the gypsy, whom he had first met on that eventful afternoon when he was lost in the forest on his way to Melitta, and who, therefore, had in a manner been the instrument to bring him to Melitta, to say nothing of their subsequent connection with Oldenburg, all of which prompted him to act energetically. He felt the burden of the gratitude which he owed to Oldenburg for his chivalrous assistance at Bruno's death, and in the duel with Felix. He did not like to be under such obligations to a man against whom he had felt a strong antipathy from the beginning, and whom he had afterwards, in the days of his love for Melitta, feared as his most dangerous rival--a man whose determined strength of will had something imposing to him in spite of his reluctance to a

ilent, and Franz had seen no other way to explain this reticence than by supposing that his companion was either not willing or not at liberty to give any further explanations about the matter. When Oswald, therefore, remarked that it would probably be too late that evening to pay a visit to Berger, he had simply answered: "I think so!" and refrained from offering his company when Oswald, after walking up and down in his room for a quarter of an hour in perfect silence, had at last declared his intention to take a walk in the cool of the evening. Fra

ed groups. For a moment they blazed up, like the remains of an exhausted fire, only to sink the next moment into utter night for want of fuel. Peace was soon restored, for nobody knew exactly why they had been fighting each other with such rage, and there were quite enough closed eyes and bruised limbs for such an intangi

ushed his way through the noisy fighting crowd, who did not notice him at all, and inquired of the one and the other why they were fighting, and where Xenobia the gypsy was, with her child? No one had time or inclination to answer his questions, until at last he happened to speak to a young man who looked a little less rowdyish than the rest, and who told him

n. He considered for a moment whether he had better return without having anything more to do with the rope-dancers; but the desire to hear more, and to ascertain,

ions about his loss would only make him ridiculous, and it became a noble character to forgive and forget. He pretended, therefore, to ignore the whole occurrence, and treated it as something by no means unexpected. "Ingratitude is the world's reward--easily won, easily lost--to-day it is I, to-morrow it is another. Let us sit down again, gentlemen. Director Schmenckel is not so easily thrown out of gear. We have other means still in reserve to entertain a highly-honored public,

sire?" inquired Mr. Schmencke

information about the gypsy woman, who, I

he now recognized in him the gentleman whom the Czika had embraced. Mr. Schmenckel knew at once how the matter stood. This young gentleman was an immensely rich lord who had a mania for gypsies, and was in the hab

time for consideration, "why wou

do not mean to leave the man who gives me the information I desire to

, whose suspicions were only confirmed by Oswald'

ld hesitate to tell me what little yo

ot so very little I know about her. When one has

is summer at--never mind, not ver

or; "it is not the first time to-night that Xenobia

k for a moment of doubting the fable; "how old

llency, when she came to us, she had no child.

wald, and he s

girl, moreover, take wages from me? I can tell your excellency that I have made very different conquests in my time. Has your excellency

carcely able to restrain hims

ng, "but I can take my oath that she might be my child

the gypsy will

pon that; she is never as well

she run away s

enckel, philosophizing, "and the kinder you are to them, the sooner they will play you some

e with disgust, "we will talk about that

pocket, laughed and returned into the public room, feeling very happy in the pleasant conviction that he had cheated a greenhorn. Withi

r from his betrothed, but unfortunately had also confirmed the vague apprehensions which had of late troubled his mind. Sophie wrote in a hand almost illegible from anxiety, that her father had had a stroke of paralysis, from which the physicians feared the ve

. To think of his sweet love in such bitter need and sorrow--watching and weeping by the sickbed, perhaps already by the coffin of her father--and he, her comfort and her hope, some four hundred miles away--all this was enough

t Fichtenau beyond what was absolutely necessary, and above all to be punctually at the appointed time at his post in Grunwald. Oswald had been so thoroughly excited by the many extraordinary occurrences of the last h

f down in the carriage; "Come along with me! You may find my proposal

ld. "I cannot leave here without h

I have no good reason whatever for making the proposition. But I feel as if I ought not to leave you

ow you as so

well! Go o

rriage rattled over the uneven pavement of th

standing near Oswald, a napkin under his arm and a pen behind his ear. "A most pleasant gentleman--w

d would not have again refused to accompany him. For since Franz had left him he felt as if his

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had come between her and himself the bad weeds sown by whispering tongues which had grown up to maturity so suddenly, thanks to the fickleness of his own heart; he had forgotten everything except the remembrance of those sunny days of inexpressible happiness. And he had thrown himself at her feet and shed tears, bitter-sweet tears, upon her knees, and stammered words of repentance, and implored her forgiveness. Then an icy-cold hand had been laid on his brow, and as he looked up it was no longer Melitta, but Professor Berger; but not the man of the

brought him the right kind of cheerfulness, for the visions of the night still cast their spectral shadows upon the day. Woe to him whose heart is not clear of sin! Woe to him whose heart concea

aters of the place or travelling for their amusement. He sat quietly sipping his wine, and amused himself with listening to the brilliant conversation of some commercial travellers, as it flitted to and fro, touching a thousand subjects, and among them also the escape of the gypsy woman and her child, and the "enormous row" which had arisen in consequence, disturbing the peace of the Green Hat and the nightly rest of a considerable part of the little town. Some of the young gentlemen who had witnesse

urpose of returning to his room. He was naturally less than ever disposed now to call upon Berger, and he had therefore

at is Doctor Birkenhain's asylum. You have perhaps a relation of yours there? We have many people coming here who have relations at Doctor Birkenhain's. Only this summer there was a lady here from your

of that lady?" asked Oswald,

s husband died--what a misfortune for such a beautiful lady! Will you be back in time for supper, sir? No? But you will certainly stay over night

town, and flowed evenly beneath tall trees. Here and there the water peeped out from between the dense foliage, but only to disappear again, like a playful child that likes to tease. At one point the brook had been stopped and forced to

ircles and pushing wave after wave. He thought of Melitta, how often she had probably come down this way, hanging on the arm of

right in the world?--the world to be a cosmos? Yes, for him whose glance was content with skimming the surface, where the waters flowed merrily over the level ground in the shade of beautiful trees--but also for him who sounded the depths, wh

nce from the highroad on a moderate hill, amid gardens. Surrounded as it was on all sides by high walls, it looked too much

ion of heart. A window opened in the porter's lodge; the gate-keeper loo

ome by ap

es

r na

gave hi

who were to be admitted seemed to be written; then he p

court to the main entr

avel and adorned here and there with groups of trees and shrubberies. On a bench under one of the trees, amidst a group of several persons,

r of addressing the Emp

n, the young man shook his head sadly, and lo

er; and now the summer is nearly gone and the emperor has not come yet. I shall have

joy flashed across the pale face of the unfortunate man. He bow

summons opened the door for him and showed him into a parlor. Then he took his n

ckets, the Apollo Belvedere, the Zeus of Otricoli, the Ludovisi Juno; upon the centre-tables lay books and portfolios with engr

an before him. He had imagined Doctor Birkenhain to be a venerable old man, full of dignity and gravity, and now he found himself standing before a man little older than himself--he had surely not passed his thirtieth year--tall and thin, with spare, light-brown hair and care

rived of the pleasure of making Doctor Braun's acquaintance, whom he had wished to congratulate upon having secu

ity overwhelms him: 'I have one part in my heart that's sorry yet for thee.' This one part of the heart is the sound part, where the cure must begin, and so it is with Berger. I beg, therefore, you will try to interest Berger by all means in your own fate. Tell him all about your plans and purposes, your hopes and your wishes--about your joys and your sorrows; speak to him especially of your griefs, if you have any--and you will pardon such an indiscretion in a physician--I think your confidences will be particularly ample in that direction. You smile! Well, perhaps I am mistaken, and what I thought I read in your face is the result of mere bodily uneasiness, and not of mental suffering; but, however that may be, do not conceal from Berger the shady side, and even the night side of your life. On the contrary, complain--and the more impressively, the more painfully, you can do that, the better--only mourn and grieve like a sick man

five days

mpression upon Berger; and after the pleasure he will feel at seeing you again, he must experience the pain o

en made aware

takes about this time a walk in the mountains, which he occasionally extends into the night. I give him perfect liberty, as any restraint would only be injurious. You know, besides, th

also, though of course you will have to use your discretion. Such apparent trifles are of great importance; a missing glove-button may make a dandy lose hi

cross the hall, with its tessellated floor, up t

n for patients if Doctor Birkenhain had not told him so; they ga

r Birkenhain; "as it is such fine weather most of them are in

d-looking man, whom they met passing with a watering-pot i

my side." "Oh, that matters very little," replied Birkenhain, in a tone full of confidence, which sounded as if it must have been inspiring to the greatest hypochondriac; "we'll

on his complaint. Here we are; now you go to the end of the passage, and the last door to the left is Berger's room. I am very curious to hear what you will

which the man who had just left him had made upon him, and at the same time very much troubled about the part which he was to play. He was to help Berger to recover hi

out to him. Upon the brown panel was something

i speranza vo

knock. He listened to hear if anything was stirring within; he heard nothing. At last he summoned courage and knocked with a strong hand.

TER

o full of energy; the dark curling hair was grizzled; the massive brow, hewn apparently out of the live granite, appeared even more powerful and imposing, thanks to the increased baldness at the temples. A full beard, formerly an aversion to Berger, now flowed, silver-gray, from cheek, lips, and chin, so that the end nearly touched the table. His hands, once so plump and carefully kept, had become so thin, so transparent! And what a costume! A blue smock-frock, instead of the blac

d. His eyes were deep and clear, and looked larger than usual; he did no

aid, rising, with a low voice, from which all fo

osom of this man, he felt all his sufferings fully, as he thought; now only, in the arms of this man who had endured so

holds his son who comes home from a far c

verflowing heart. When I was as young as you, I wep

dear, dea

we buy our souls back again, when we find what a wretched bargain we had made before we knew better. Ere we give up life we have to learn that it is better not to live.

took his hat and c

!" he

on how utterly impossible it would be to speak to such a man of such things. He would as lief have reminded a mother who

he court-yard. As they went across the latter, the young man who was sitting on the

onor to address the Emp

he emperor is not coming

face became still paler, and his eyes wandered restles

istresses; to afford you the means of continuing a life which you ought to thank God on your knees you have escaped from--if you believe in any God? What appears to you a star of promise, is a will-o'-the-wisp from the moors.

sty so intimately?" s

his promise money and lands. I was promised--never mind what; and thus he promises everybody something else, in order to fool and trick everybody.

o further attention to the young man, who was standing there, hat in hand, with an indescribably sad face. No

without delay, and found themselves on the turnpike, which followed first one bank, and then, after crossing the rive

tenderly, instead of destroying so rudely his absurd illus

he unfort

ears a fortune of half a million in senseless extravagance. Now he ho

is last consolation should deprive him

this peculiar struggle, which would be grand if it were not so ludicrous. These doctors move in the dark, as if they were playing blindman's buff, and think they have cured the disease when they have gotten rid of the symptoms. They do not know, they do not e

land of hills; behind them the forest extended upwards. It was quiet, perfectly quiet, around them. Long white gossamer floated through the thin, clear air. The flowers were gone; the birds had forgotten their songs, the locust

elled to confess to the unhappy man by his side, in whom he had ever seen another self, all that he had experienced, tried to obtain, suffered and sinned, during these last eventful, fatal months. He did not think of Doctor Birkenhain's suggestion to interest Berger by all means at his command in his own fate, and thus to play the part of the physician to his patient. Was he not a very sick patient himself? But, whatever might agitate his heart--the man by his side had suffered

terrupting Oswald. At last, when the young man wound up with the painful complaint "Why did you send me into this troublesome world? Why

back further and further as you thought you were coming nearer, until you would at last break down, cursing your sufferings and your existence. Be joyful! You have gone through with it; you have finished your first and hardest course in as many weeks as it took me years. You have opened your eyes and looked at what was there, and behold! it was not good! The value of life, the purpose of life, has become doubtful to you. You have begun to understand that the assertion of superficial optimists: Life is the purpose

great m

n with fixed eyes at the distance. O

ugh the clear air; silently the evening sunshine wove its golden

wound up his life, and who was fearfully in earnest with his contempt of the world, suffered himself to sink deeper a

with delight the beauty of this evening landscape; drinks it down into the heart, and there, in my heart, a voice whispers: 'The world is so fair, so fair! and even if life makes you suffer bit

it was a strang

ever

off with his stick a piece of th

il which so many years have spread over the past

use, "it is but right you shou

our miserable existence here, and to hide its wretched hollowness--if ever man was raving about those bloodless images which we call ideals--I was that man. In my madness I fancied that eternal bliss might be won even here below wherever men were living in a free country. I believed in my native land, and seal

nevertheless the town was always full of visitors, for the poetic halo with which the great men of Weimar

e then, especially in this remote part of the world. But the old gentleman possessed yet another treasure, besides his library--a most beautiful daughter. The daughter soon became more interesting t

e of the pine-trees. How my eye dwelt upon her graceful form as she did the honors of the company with merry modesty; how my ear drank in the tones of her silvery, sweet voice! It

of these things, and was often laughed at by the teasing girls on account of my odd selection. She however became more and more silent the deeper we went into the wood and the further we left the others behind. As she became m

from heaven now poured a dazzling light lavishly down upon us. And the golden light shone brightly on her dark, curling hair, and played upon her ro

e-tree, and I was young and slender, and full of exuberant strength. The tr

ed not speak, nor even seize Berger's hand, which was listlessly hanging down by his side. Lofty calmness rested on Berger's fac

diligence, for my thirst of knowledge was hardly less of an incentive than my desire to be able as soon as possible to carry Leonora home with me as my wife. I therefore went only rarely to Fichtenau, and then stayed only a short time to sun myself in Leonora's love, and to return to my work with new courage and new strength. But I had another lady-love

was fixed; I was counting the days and the hours. Suddenly, one night, I was seized in my bed

ora--well! she would bear her hard lot like a heroine. A second Egmont, I saw freedom and my beloved hand in hand. Through night to light! Through battle to victory! That was the mystic word with which I tried to

of my cell. But, I told you before, my strength was great, and I was sternly determined to live. I had heard, to be sure, in the silent nights which saw me tossing restlessly upon my hard couch, the great word that rel

njured me to endure patiently, and to remain faithful, appealing to the God to whom she was hourly sending up her prayers for my release. Her letters had become rarer, and after about two years

ne them i

and asked what I wanted? I inquired after the schoolmaster. 'He died three years ago,' was the curt answer. 'And where is his daughter?' 'You must ask the great gentleman who eloped with her thr

m. The air of the prison had affected my health, and the fearful blow, finding me utterly unprepared, had shaken the weakened edifice to the foundation. I struggled four weeks for my life, but I clu

ious words: "Die forever!" Did they contain that great

all and say: Who can accuse me of a sin?--and yet! and yet! I racked my brain to solve the mystery. I had never yet understood fully that life itself is the great sin, from which all other sins flow necessarily, as the stone, once set in motion, must roll inevitably down the precipice. Thus only I gradually comprehended that He cannot be a God of love who created and still creates a world in which the sins of the fathers are punished down to the third and fourth generation--a world, the whole government of which rests on the fearful Jesuitical principles that the end sanctions the means. So far I had always tried to find out only what was good in the world and in men; now my eyes had been opened by sore sufferings for the sufferings of my fellow-beings. I now saw how every page of our history bears the record of some fearful deed that makes our hair stand on end, and our blood curdle in our veins; I saw that there is a dark corner in every man's heart which he never dares look into; that no man yet has

h I had not known before--hatred. It was only my love in another form, although I tried to persuade myself that I had forgotten the faithless one; it was only another exp

m! on her!--this was the cry of a voice within me, which I could never silence again. They all knew my misfortune in Fichtenau, and felt for me with that cheap sym

ds with great indignation. Soon, however, they no longer dared to say openly to her what they thought about her relations to the young count, but only whispered it about with bated breath that they had been seen together late at night at such and such places, and that the gold chain which she was now wearing had not been in her possession before. And then came a day on

my travels--first to Warsaw. There the count was very well known; they described him to me as a profligate young man, who made it the business of his life to seduce beaut

by relieving him of this burden. Then the painter hesitated and declined to say more. I conjured him to tell me all, assuring him that I was prepared to hear the worst. At last he yielded, and told me that after some time the count had really found a successor in the person of a French marquis, or at least a pretended marquis, who had taken Leonora with him to Paris. This had occurred about a year ago. The count was said to be living in Naples. I went to Naples, wi

time chance seemed to defeat every effort I made to meet the count at one of the parties where he was expected. At last I met him at a great soiree given by the Russian Minister. I saw him standing in

, of Fichtenau, desires to make your acqua

ned pale, and changed countenance in such a ma

from you the present place of residence of that young lady whom you carried off from her

ice was heard all over the room, for at the first words I uttered

ill paler, but he soon r

h a question at a time and place whi

une of being engage

ne giving you th

ladies and gentlemen to be from head t

the company, after having asked their pardon for the nec

rybody was glad to see him thus publicly exposed, and if he had refused to fight me he would probably have lost his standing in society. His few friends had, therefore, shrugged their shoulders, and his enemies had smiled with delight, when he had left the house soon after my departure, and an hour afterwards I received a challenge for the following morning. That was all I desired. I was delighted; and the few hours still wanting till I should see the seducer of Leonora, the mur

en suddenly jumped forth from the deep shadow of a house and fell upon us with incredible fury. Fortunately the painter was a man of gigantic strength, and I also had my good arm and presence of mind. The murderers seemed to be surprised by our resistance. After a few

e returned by the nearest way to our hotel, a

assination, but should knock him down like a mad dog; but I replied to him that that was exactly what

was to have kept us waiting so long, but that it was not his fault. The count had left his house late at night, after having arranged everything with his second, leaving orders for his man servant not to sit up for him. Since that moment he

nt himself had led the attack, being in all probability the very person whose violence had been most conspicuous, and who had been so severely punished by the strong arm of the painter. Either he had died in consequence of the wound received on that occasion, or, what was more probable, he was only wounded and remained concealed in order to avoid giving an expla

for four weeks the favorite topic of conversation all over town--for it had created an enorm

h my happiness, and who had lost the last relic of respect which might have remained alive for her after her elopement with the Pole, by running away with the Frenchman. But I told you I had loved Leonora with an ardent, demoniacal love, the fire of which had never yet burned out, and which was to burn, alas! long after al

from the painter and several distinguished Italian and French gentlemen, whose acquaintance I had made there. A few inquiries confirmed at once the painter's original suspicion, that the marquis who had carrie

d, and especially of that little world which makes up Paris, had first suggested to me to carry my investigations into the Quartier Latin, and other still more modest parts of the city. 'Paris,' said the Frenchman, 'is a place where men and things rarely preserve their original value long; they rise and fall in price with ama

and felt how true they were likely to be. I felt like a man

tless, to a third, and a fourth. All in vain. I was so exhausted by the sad scenes I had witnessed, by the dust and the heat which filled these crowded rooms, by the efforts to find one certain person among so many, who were constantly changing from place to place, and by the excitement, the anxiety, and the very fear of finding what I was looking for, that I begged my companion to abandon the search, at least for to-night. 'Only one more locality,' he replied; 'I have on purpose left it for the last, because the probability of finding her there is strong enough, but also very painful.' 'How so?' 'The establishments which you have seen so far,' replied the Frenchman, 'are after a fashion quite respectable in spite of what is going on there. The visitors are beyond measure reckless, arrogant, frivolous, but after all not exactly vicious. They are

stand, for something within me told me that I had reached the goal of my wanderings; that th

cs, with which the room was adorned, and the fearful excitement under which I labored, took away my breath. I had to lean for a moment against a pillar, and closed my eyes in order to collect myself. As I was standing thus, faint and

n; she was tall and slender, had large, brown eyes, which shone with feverish brightness, and a face far too sharply acc

ed down upon Leonora as coldly as if she were a picture on the wall. I heard every word she said to her partner, as we hear words just before we are going to faint--as if they had been spoken at the other end of the hall. I examined her from head to foot, even her costume, with the calm criticism of an artist. I noticed that she was rouged, and that

find any one corresponding to your description,' he said. 'God be thanked! I breathe more freely; I should not have liked,

ve fou

her

her

t intense interest. She was still perfectly unconscious of those w

th pity and dropped his eye-glass.

e!' he whispe

moment it was the very soul of passion, trembling in every nerve and vibrating in every muscle, but here as well as there, a beautiful rhythm of marvellously complicated and yet ever harmoniously united movements was never wanting. This dance was a song--a song of love--but not of German love, dreamy, fragrant with the perfume of blooming lime-trees and softened by the pale light of the moon, but of sensuous Oriental love, hot with the burning rays of a Southern sun, and breathing narcotic voluptuousness. And with all that, her features were calm, not a muscle moving, not a trace of that repulsive, stereotyped smile worn by so many far-fa

emande!' cried an

plauded energetically with both hands till all the by-standers followed hi

! What can you do with her? I tell you she is lost! irreparably lost!' 'We will see that!' I murmured. The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders. 'You Germans are a strange people. But, at least follow my advice. Do not make

face hid in my hands, in silent, unspeakable sorrow, amid the noisy crowd; and while my idol, the beloved of my youth, the woman whom I had worshipped in my dark dungeon like a glorious saint, was dancing a few steps from me, after a wicked, voluptuous music, the voluptuous dance of Herodias--in those moments, Oswald, I bid an

lose to my ear. They took seats at the small tables, to cool their fever with ices and champagne. To my table also came

ment, Eléonore?' said

, Cha

ut votr

ut mon

nd say to her: 'Did you not tell me precisely the same thing on the meadow in the forest of Fichtenau?' But

shall I see

ver you

does th

ways at home f

ere is a

Dix-sept. You have only to inqui

eine Eléonore. A

n't go a

ately I ha

Wh

r's, and she will be inconsolable if her fait

ngaged--oh,

you will help me b

s ver

ghing; Leonora's silk dre

back and put his

rnt everythi

I replied, r

Ho

told me al

ious. 'Come,' he said, 'the he

nd plans and rejected them again. Only one thing was certain: I must sav

ght kill her perhaps. A few days passed, and I found no better plan after all than to go straight to her. My friend shook his head whenever I spoke of my project. 'But, mon cher,' he said again and again, 'don't you see that you still love her?' Was he right? I do not k

ed as he gave his customary reply: 'Qui, monsieur, au troisème!' to my question if Mademoiselle Eléonore was li

a china plate near a bell-rope: 'Mademoiselle Eléonore de Saint Georges.' How many

the uglier because of the neatness of her dress and the affected respectability of h

disposed and cannot

must s

he woman, 'I have jus

ame, I am

chose, entrez, mon

t, furnished with almost princely splendor, and asked me to wait

moiselle g

ll be back i

red behind a

gilt frames; the Chinese pagodas upon the marble mantelpiece; the vases and cups of finest porcelain, the luxurious divans and sofas--and I felt like the physician who

er curtain into a second room, light and bright. Of the furniture of this room I saw nothing; I saw only the slender, white form which rose when I entered from the divan on which she had been resting, and now advanced a few steps to meet me. And this slender, white form, wit

you, doctor,' she

t me with eyes which seemed to leap forth from their orbits; then she uttered

ainting girl, I asked the maid if Leonora was at all subject to such attacks; what was the general state of her health? The woman thought it her duty to drop her assumed respectability before a physician. 'She had been only about six months in the service of mademoiselle. Since then matters had gone down hill very fast indeed. But mademoiselle was really living too fast in all conscience. Dancing every night till three or four o'clock in th

eet with open arms was harder to bear than all the rest, and nearly moved me to tears. I felt not a trace of hatred, of anger, in my heart, not even of contempt--no, nothing but pity, boundless, unspeakable pity. I do not know what I said--but I must have spoken good, mild words of love and of forgiveness, for her rigid features began gradually to become softer; her eyes, dilated with horror, filled with tears, and at last she broke out into passionate weeping, hiding her head on my bosom as I was kneeli

ing her head on one hand, while I spoke to her holding the other hand--how white and slender and transparent her fingers had become!--spoke to her as a brother would speak to his sister in such a case. I begged her to look upon me as a brother, to confide in me as her best, perhaps her only friend. I conjured her by all that was sacred to he

red. 'You are kind, I know; inexpressi

ted if a strange episode had not occurred, which dec

!' I rose, full of horror. Before me stood a young man elegantly dressed, who examined me through his eye-glass fro

n by her as her only lover. He knew that Leonora was by no means rigorously faithful to him, and did not mind it much; but

d, turning to Leonora, in a tone of insulting indifferenc

ra anticipated me. As soon as she had seen the new comer she had r

said, pointing at me, '

at r

has been unfortunate

an, smiling ironically, 'the gentleman s

oiselle, I have older claims, and I cannot allow you to

, I dare say, you propose to marry her, after I'--with a glance at the furniture--'have h

cause I have accepted your presents. Here, I return you all you have ever given me. There, and there, and there!' and she tore

vidently made a great impression upon the dandy. 'I have had enough of this.' he said. 'I

other moment will I stay here. Rather

ng, which he had rented for Leonora, and everything he had ever given her, once more at his disposal. We left the house, handed the keys to the porter, and gave the letter into the hand

rrect. The very next day the terrible disease showed itself clearly. The poor sufferer raved in her delirium of the hot orgies in the Jardin aux Lilas and of the cool shades in her native woods, of the Marquis de Saintonges, and other Paris acquaintances, and of myself, now appearing as her guardian angel, and now as an avenging demon, while I sat by her bedside and medit

pression, 'I must not conceal it from you that, according to human calculations, your sister is not destined to survive this attack very long. I apprehend that her lungs are seriously affected; she must have been ill a long time before I saw her. I do not know

ans had been nearly consumed during my long wanderings; there was only a small remnant left, but I might spend that sum just as well in Italy as elsewhere; besides, I hoped to derive abroad some advantages f

ain a few lessons in the family of a rich Englishman, who had come to the place for the same reasons which brought

ast spark of honor and self-respect was not extinguished. Leonora did not hesitate to say so; but she added, 'the punishment is severe but just; it was the only way, perhaps, to teach me how grievously I had sinned against you.' While Leonora found thus a soothing comfort for her conscience in her deep repentance, I had in my unspeakable sorrow only one very modest consolation: to act towards Leonora as my conscience dictated. I was at liberty to drain the cup of sorrow to the very last drop. That was the fulfilment of all the precious happiness of which I had dreamt so much in the golden days of Fichtenau, and even later in the dark nights of my imprisonment in the fortress! This pale, feeble for

t was a bitter medicine; but it cured me thoroughly of that di

tion as the disease was destroying her bodily form, the original beauty of her soul

, as in a mirror. Upon the pale face of the patient also fell an enchanting sheen--a rosy lie--the lie with which the sun and life scoff at the night and at death. And in that hour Leonora took leave of the sun and of life. She told me that she had always loved me, even at that moment when vanity and folly had blinded her; that her whole life since that day had been but a continuous effort to drown her remorse. She did not desire to live, even if it were possible that I should ever love her again. She felt herself to be unworthy of being my slave,

fully, and that I now loved her with a purer an

, her white hands

whispered--'poor, poor man.' S

exhausted, back to the

the la

ght Leon

re his mind's eye, clothed by his powerful imagination with all the accuracy and clearness of reality; the latter thought of nothing bu

n, which the people of the neighborhood call the Lookout, and which

e of the higher mountain-tops, steeped in purple, looked after the parting light of the day; but the larger valleys were already filled with gray shadows of the evening, and whitish mists

rom me this remnant of dust, which weighs me down with its sinfulness, and which becomes only the more painful as it daily dwindles away! Let it, oh, let it quickly be consumed! I know I could quickly come to you if I but took a single step beyond the edge of this rock; but even if my bones were broken into atoms below, my soul would find no rest, for it has still a few drops left in the cup of life; perhaps--who can tell?--the very bitterest of them all. No! no! get thee away from me, Satan, who allurest me down into the abyss! The abyss is not death; life in all its splendor, is true death. I know thy old tricks; thou didst try them with the carpenter's son of Nazareth! But he rebuked thee and thy temptations--honor, power, and the favor of women--all he rejected, in order to hunger, to thirst, and not to have where he might lay his head, to wash off the last remnant of earthly life in the bloody sweat of the night on the Mount o

s spreading over the valleys, and the evening breeze bega

ath from the grave--as if the sun had set never to rise again But this fear was not without a strange admixture of delight. The narcotic fragrance of thoug

oubles and blunders of his gay drama in the chateau of Grenwitz, but it looked to him like a puppet-show for children. He thought of the future, but it had no longer any charms f

ge rock, and looked out into the evening, which was sp

laid on h

ger, "let us ret

y path and every stone in the mountains. He went on, supporting himself every now and then with his stout c

suddenly saw a light glimmering on the opposite side. It came from the flame of a pile of briars which had just b

m in a suspicion which had enter

Xenobia

omplished half the distance when he sank up to his ankles into the morass. He saw that he

f the silent forest when the fire vanished,

swald might have imagined that h

asked Berger, when Os

not see t

sp in the swamp," replie

TER

e surprised when he found out that they were approaching the town from the opposite direction. There were the huge wagons laden with bales, there was the wide court-yard with its hospitably open gates, there was the green lamp burning in dismal dimness over the door of the house, and casting a mournful light upon one-half of the leaden hat which had once shone in all the splendor of oil-paint, but which had since passed

stakable signs to convince Oswald that he wa

d reminded him most forcibly of this whole affair, w

ire his skill in unravelling intricate situations and problematic characters; but he was loth to trouble a mind which was constantly

when Berger suddenly stopped at t

let us go in he

e dreamy, delicate man, with his horror of the mere odor of tobacco

replied Berger. "Are they

rday the enthusiastic admirers of art had fought their battle royal with their adv

marting of the blows which they have received a day before on account of this very glory, and who are prosaic enough to recollect the number of glasses of beer which the artists have drunk at their expense, solely for the purpose of not interfering with the general good-temper of the company. Th

, because its original color appeared still richer and more intense in contrast with a few patches of black which had become indispensable in consequence of his fight with Mamselle Adele. His swollen eyelids

of his wardrobe, was also the temper

he said, laying his broad hand upon th

ived but meagre applause to-day, since the genius in

is of course not as good as you drink it in Egypt, but never

ce which might have convinced the impartial observer of the correctness of the judgment of t

new comers--whom he recognized instantly as the insane young count of the day before, and an old gray-bearded fellow of curious appearance whom the count had picked up for his amusement

entlemen, take your seats; delighted to make your acquaintance, old fellow, much honor. Two fresh glasses of beer for the gentlemen, and one for Director Schmenckel! Empty your glass, Cotterby! So, now br

s the first mouthful I have relished this evening. Odd! is it not? Bad company spoils good beer; good company makes bad beer good! Am a lover of sociability

ector Schmenckel. To his astonishment, Berger seemed to listen to the prattle of the rope-dancer with some interest. He had hung his hat upon the back of the

he answered to the

n of making an impression upon Mr. Schmenckel by the tit

rd. "Ha! ha! ha! Very good! May I make you acquainted with my friend Cotterby? Mr. John Co

wald, who was seriously embarras

er stay a little lon

e, and your blouse is going to tatters completely, you must come to me. Director Schmenckel will be delighted to receive a man like you as a member of his co

ied Oswald, encouraged by a smile upon Berge

apeze; I tell you the ring-tailed apes of the Island of Sumatra are miserable bunglers in comparison--absolutely miserable bunglers! And then Mr. Stolsenberg with his gigantic cask! I tell you--come nearer, Stolsenberg. An artist such as you are need not be so very modest, and the count here does not mind another glass of beer, or even several he is not like ordinary men. And then Mr. Pierrot, as contortionist!--come this way, Pierrot! Artists ought always to keep to each other. I tell you, count, your penknife is a ramrod in comparison with Mr. Pierrot. I have said it again and again: Pierrot, if we ever should travel by rail together, I mean to pay only for m

ews about them?

ypsy-children, winked cunningly with his swollen eyes, put his fat finger against his nose, and said: "Are not far from here, in the woods--have certain information--can get her when I want her--don't want her, though--women must have time to get over their tan

ght learn a great deal yet," replied Berger, looki

the hare burrows, and the man who wants to lead him astray has to rise early in the morning. But, by all the Powers! it is no wonder after all if I know

's a capital comparison; perfectly co

of astonishment. "How I got hold of it? Probably, becau

e of life," said Berger, while Mr. Schmenckel made use of the interva

on the table, and disappearing for a few moments from the sight of the by-standers in thick, blue clouds. "Life i

he pushed back violently the arm with which Mr. Schmenckel

his right hand against his thick lips and cast a kiss after the girl as she slipped out, and then, c

he? Pretends to eat me up alive, and

l with ladies," said Oswald, m

are like the weather. To-day too hot, and to-morrow too cold; to-day sunshine, and to-morrow

er, whose look dwelt imperturbably upon his jovial companion,

tleman, that might do very well for you; but of Caspar Schmenckel, of Vienna, you cannot

nly be the best of

on the wall. Oh, pshaw! Why do you let your beer grow stale, and make a face like a tanner whose skins have been washed down the stream? Come, drink a glass with Caspar Schmenckel! Well, that's right! Schmenckel is a merry fe

let us

; Stolsenberg, P

eaned back in his chair, and began with a tremendo

orning,

e you

ing, ad

ges are

little

he big

ame the

ythe an

p the

cing lik

little

e big c

el, after having finished off the remarkable air by pummellin

d Berger; "do yo

el, "but Mr. Cotterby knows the

and passed his hand through his dark, well-oiled hair, leaned back in hi

t had a p

d to sta

her husband

broad a

grass and th

the gras

ha, ha, ha;

h! hu

ad, and in

ood. That reminds me of a pretty story, which I will tell if you

ice it, or did not choose to notice it. He took a long pull at his glass of beer, and said to the waitin

story which Director Schmenckel is goi

nt at Oswald. Mr. Schmenckel cleared his voice, leaned over the table, and b

lf experienced this very often in life, but it has never become quite so clear to me as some----" Here Mr. Schmenckel looked almost anxiously around, to see that no unauthorized ear, espe

sai

d the hopeful son of a citizen of Fichtenau,

herefore, at any place on earth. St. Petersburg, gentlemen, is a beautiful city, as you may judge from the fact that th

again the man from Fichtenau

the human mind can't conceive it. I tell you, the breath from your mouth falls instantly as snow to the ground, and when two persons have been talking to each other for some time in the street, a heap is formed between them so high that when they part they have to climb up in order to be able to shake hands. Why

ortable," remarked the old

its ways," repli

too," said the fat landlord,

. Schmenckel, draining his glass and handing it over his sho

he new glass, "in a word, St. Petersburg is a fine city, and when you see how the sun glitters on all the ice palaces, and how the Russians, wrapped in their bearskins, drive furiously throu

-I can say that we created a sensation, especially our horses; for the Russians know horses only from hearsay. The emperor alone has two or three shaggy creatures that look like big dogs in his stables. Everybody else, a

jesty condescended to pat the best animals most graciously on the neck, and to pinch the cheeks of the handsomest ladies in the company, with his own hand. But more than anybody else did I enjoy the emperor's favor. I cannot tell exactly why! I only know that the emperor sent for me to his box the very first night, and said to me before the whole court: 'Mr. Schmenckel, you are not only the strongest but also t

Will you drink a glass of wutki punch with me to-night, after the performance is over? dear von Schmenckel. You kno

of Vienna, is not a proud man, but

a courteous bow to the

r, and it is a pleasure, which I will not deny,

in the bosom of the imperial family. The gentlemen of

he ladies! I tell you, gentlemen, he who has not seen the women of Russia, has not seen any women at all. Such hair, such eyes, such

You may think that sounds like brag, gentlemen, but I cannot help it, it was so. They sent me whole wagon-loads of locks of hair, bouquets and little note

f my admirers. This was a young and very beautiful lady, whom I saw every evening at the circus; but she always a

asked me one evening as we were walking,

ed, for discretion was always C

aid the emperor. 'How do you

d been sitting immovable, his brow buried in his han

ckel. "Another Russian slice, landlord. With you

calm, serious features, and as if the eyes betrayed an unusual excitement but the nex

ikowsky?' I aske

k who sits very near the imperial box?

ajesty; but she see

arer relations to our house than I liked. We have given her a husband, a Polish nobleman who was ruine

nquired the fat habitué of the Green Ha

him for a time, she sends him to his estates in Poland. Just now he is again on his travels. You had better make a conquest of her,

them as with a boy's ball--she smiled; on the second I played with two--she clapped her tiny hands; on the third I played with all three of them--she threw me a bouquet. I was sure of my success now. But here, gentlemen, I must beg you to excuse me if I follow my invariable custom when a lady is mentioned in my recollections, and if I only suggest, therefore, in

or four years secretly in love with the daughter of an alderman, and had already

r, and you Cotterby, you abominably fast man, and you Pierrot, the greatest scamp I know. Well, just listen, gentlemen! The pretty maid was not less passionately fond of me than her mistress, for, as I said just now, in that matter of love all the women are alike What happens, therefore? On

red the countess, pale with ter

here followed a fearfu

s a nice predicament; w

el, you mu

leasure;

chamber, and lock

; but what

opened the window, took the candelabra with the lights, passed through the seco

y five senses the door was broken open, and the count rushed in, holding two pis

Berger asked in a low voic

at was, after all, a little too strong, and not exactly the way to make Caspar Schmenckel's acquaintance. What could I do? I seized the count around the body, and threw him out of the window; and in case he should have broken something in falling, I threw one of the servants right after him. The others were fright

dly pale, his eyes were rolling fearfull

e said, with weird-sounding voice,

s taken a little too much," sai

hands--"too much of the wretched beverage of this miserable life, which is

but the half-drunk visitor

y," cried Mr. Schmenckel, holding his sides. "Spe

. He tried in his anxiety to calm the over-exci

leaning with both his hands upon the table, as Os

quintessence of the long syllogism, the pa

ed on a

d to di

ve I al

o bette

udent demons--where folly with the fool's cap on the head is ruling supreme, and causes its lofty conceptions to be executed by stupidity, vulgarity, and brutality--

that," cried Mr. Schmenckel, w

ing without you; you are the idea, the incarnate idea. I told you life was good for nothing, but no--that is saying too much--it is worthy of you. I detest you, but I honor yo

menckel returning the embrace. "You are a

rger and sei

essing his hand upon his heart, wi

ll the chatting and chaffing, and made the drinkers jump up from their seats in utter consternation. They crowded around the fallen man, and glared with stupid, hal

swald, supporting the burden o

had been quietly standing near, with open mouth and fixed

brought him ba

said, "we must do somethi

us, from Oswald's arms, lifted him without effort on his shoulder,

he landlord

door of the room on the opposite side of the hall, wh

laid the pati

or Schmenckel, whispering his information gravely int

him eat a good slice of ham with b

the by-standers, like somebody who is awaking from a heavy dream. T

one on the other in this life. I hope I shall soon meet you again; perhaps

ough? Had we not bette

carriages are not f

door. Suddenly

m, Oswald; we must not remain i

in it, to Mr. Schmenckel's evident satisfac

ouse and were walking slowly through the silent stre

e strong beer, to which he was not accustomed. He had no suspicion of the close connection between Berger's history and the grotesque adventures of the circus-director, whose story he had scarcely heard. He only thought of Dr. Birkenhain, an

h led past the mill to the gateway of Doctor B

ave us to-ni

-ni

o learn much yet, and you cannot assist me. It is better for us, therefore, to part. You go your way, and I shall go my way--it is

ced Oswald a

as deepl

n tears; "let me stay with you and never leave you again.

se the world is but the first stage of th

stage? Mention it, so tha

ise one'

-the

he gateway. Berger rang the

hird--the

being d

ry itself--the

thout asking any questions. He who asks about it does not know it,

heart; then he entered through the ga

been refused the refreshing drink for which he has asked; then h

wayside were whispering to each other; and the mill-race down below said in its

PTE

welve years, who looked, however, pale and sickly. With them came an old man, whose gray moustache and military carriage gave him a very marked appearance, and who seemed to be partly a servant and partly a friend of the lady. The lady had spent several weeks in Fichtenau during the summer, though then without the boy, in order to attend her husband, who had been for seven ye

a few lines to Doctor Birkenhain, which the old servant had orders to carry immediately to the asylum, a hotel servant showing him the way. In the meantime the boy, who was exceedingly tired from the journey, had been put to bed. Two rooms to the left of

lor, and had been engaged with her in a long conversation, which could not have been very satisfactory, for Jean, the waiter attached to

are breast, listened attentively for some time. Then he raised himself again, carefully covered the sleeper, pushed the abundant curly hair from the fair, pale brow, and turning to the lady with a smile

I have seen so far gives me great hope that matters are not half as bad with

he lady's face, and her la

light from her hand and esc

orts you, you can let old Baumann sit up with the boy. But you yourself must go to be

or!" said the lady. "I hav

ith agitation; she seemed to be about to give utterance to a t

laid dawn again

lips. You do not believe in the disease of the heart, of which the physicians at Grunwald have said so much; if you did you would not have come to me, however kindly you may think of my modest knowledg

rresistibly from her eyes, like a long pent-up torren

own peculiar and very sad causes, which could affect only the individual, and could not possibly have any effect upon his descendants. Herr von Berkow was naturally in the enjoyment of very good health, perhaps even superior in his physique to most men; but remember, I pray that it is a physician who is speaking now--he had ruined this powerful constitution by dissipation. That which often saves others in his position--the marriage with a chaste, pure being--became in his case his ruin, for he felt his own unworthiness--felt it so deeply that he despaired of ever winning your

e; "my star? Why, doctor, I fear, if there ever w

orable stars, and above all in your good star. One so fair and so dear

y's hand, raised it reverently

ian had left her, resting her head in

scenes of her life pass

, as a light-winged butterfly flits from flower to flower, and yet feeling, amid all these blissful enjoyments, in her heart's deepest depth, a continuous restlessness, which made the golden Present appear gray and colorless in comparison with the bright-colored, glorious Future, which was to fulfil all her plans and all her hopes. She had lost sight of the solemn, awkward boy in those days. What could he have done in the midst of this fairy world, full of brightness and fragrance, in which nightingales sang, and all were playful and happy. But the Future had become the Present, and nothing had been fulfilled of all her promises; a poisonous dew had fallen upon her bright flowers, and had robbed them of their beauty and their fragrance; the nightingales had ceased to sing, and the whole spring landscape was concealed under a gray, dismal veil--a veil through which now and then fearful scenes became visible--a father kneeling before his daughter and beseeching her by his gray head, which he must bury in dishonor if she did not comply with his wishes to marry a man whom she do

e has sent into exile, but no longer with the warm heart, which is in truth ashamed of its ingratitude. Some bitterness has begun to mingle with her feelings towards this man, since he has dared--it happened during a journey to Italy--to speak openly of his love for her; since she has rejected him, fancying in her false logic that she was consistent when she only adhered obstinately to a caprice; and since he, proud as he was, h

ed any longer, and to retain the visions of her dream. Her friend has returned, contrary to all expectations, and appears before her, warning her, and the very next hour his prophecy has become true. Blow upon blow, misfortune falls upon her. Did he dream of it, when it drove him from the ruins of Karnak to his home in the far North? The news of the approaching death of the man whose name she bears summons her away from the arms of him whom she loves; she hastens to fulfil a duty which is all the more sacred to her because of the blissful happiness that she

eyes and ears only for his wants and his wishes; and as soon as he recovers slightly, she takes a journey to the man in whose experience she has unbounded confidence, and from whose lips she means to hear the sentence, the decision of life or d

f the fearful burden--now she thinks for

, and so little for that of the boy? For having committed treason against her own chil

rent of life had floated her back to the same place, almost into the same situation! Was it not as if Fate wished to give her time to consider befo

s at everything that was great and beautiful, in order to cast it aside again in childish caprice, as if it were

, and yet cannot die; then you will be able to feel what anguish a heart suffers when it sees its love betr

t branches and leaves, but never bears fruit again? Once more he was wandering restlessly, like the wandering Jew, through the wide, desert world. And, as if he should never call anything his own, the child whom he had loved before he knew her to be his child, h

certainly not indifference! Did she not feel hearty friendship, deep, sincere regard for him? Would she

e coming, that she missed him sadly now, when he was for the first time absent. And yet, what right had she to a

entle knock at the door. The door opened, and an old, gray-bearded face p

d who has just arrived wishes to present hi

e lady, rising with s

gentleman

the lady; "Oldenbur

the proffered hand of the lady and carry

he baron bent over her hand, his own eyes slowly filled with tears. He left the room with noiseless steps, closed the door very gently, and one who could have observed the old man afterwards--but there was no one there to see him--would have seen how he folded his hands, when he was outside, and murm

*

g strides, to overcome a feeling which threatened to get the better of his self-control. Melitta had seated herself on the s

side on the sofa, and said with a soft voice, which did not

t me here through night and storm, across the

ull and clear into his eyes; "no

k you,

but the whole heart of the

nd who has as yet always stood by me in the hour of misfortune, aiding me by counsel and deed, however I

as gentle as a lamb. But no more of that; I did not come here to plead for myself, and to renew a suit which has already been lost in all the stages of appeal; I did not come for my sake, but for yours. I was told in Grunwald, where I was on business, that Julius had been attacked by serious sickness, and that you had gone with him to Fichtenau. I feared the worst, and followed you at once, travelling day and night, in order to help you as far as I could. Fortunately our apprehens

s voice there was a secret pain, the pain of a noble heart fu

, for the hand so dear to him not only returned warmly the pressure of his--he felt, at least he t

her, wondering whether it were really possible--whe

d, you alone should look upon me as upon a statue, which never gives and always takes without ever saying Thank you! You have not told me a word yet about yourself; not a word how and where you have been all this time. You c

elitta as she said th

ht to awaken the desire to live, in a man who is sick unto death. Do not sp

a low voice. "To be sure I have deserved

n to reproach

oppress my heart beyond endurance. I feel deeply ashamed before you

not wish to lay any burden upon you by the f

s you do. If there is no voice in your heart speaking for me--i

was drowne

Is this my head? Are these my hands? Am I Oldenburg? Are you Melitta? You, who are she

ave the strength to do so; and that I have it, I owe to you, Adalbert. During the sickness of my child you have spoken to me, and I have not closed my heart to your voice. I have heard it very distinctly during the long, anxious night hours which

her cheeks with deep glowing blushes

humiliates me in my own eyes, in my c

ou are not alone! You are in the presence of another person--of a man who loves you,

ur child, then, and that a most terrible fate has robbed you of the love of your child as well as of the love of her whom you love. And then I vowed that, if I cannot make you as happy as you deserve to

risen from the sofa. She stood before h

ronger and deeper with every word. His eyes flashed, his bosom heaved, he pressed

approached her, knelt down before her, and said, with

ired that that star could ever shine down upon me benignly--so surely will I, from this moment, strive to attain the highest aim of man with all the power I may possess. I will lay aside all little weaknesses and all my cowardice; I will try to make up for the time whi

risen

farewell! I cannot bear it any longer under this roof; the whole, wide wo

y, and kissed her on her brow.

re petrified. She had not had the strength to keep Oldenburg back, no

. And the voice of her heart answered: "Nothing you nee

om. She bent over the sleeping boy

carriage, which rapidly drove

hen, pressing her face in the cushions,

PTE

part two good hearts forever, there had been sitting in the room on the right hand--which "was occupied by a traveller who would surely not stay beyond the next morning"--thi

he left Berger at the gate of the institution, the parting with him and the last terrible words o

ing--with all the impressions which he had so suddenly received, all the thoughts that had been stirred up, all the passions that had been unc

n, the last conclusion of wisdom? The high-minded idealist saw himself excelled by the rude slave of sensuality in courage of life and joyousness of life! The pupil of Plato acknowledged a drunken clown as his master! The man who, like the youth of Sa?s, had striven all his life only after truth, fraternized with a coarse story-teller, a charlatan, who defied all rules, of probability even, and lived merrily and cheerfully on the credulity of others, as the swallow lives on midges. As old Lear in the tempestuous night on the heath tears the royal mantle from his shoulders, so as to have no advantage over poor Tom, the "poor bare-backed animal, whose belly cries for two red herrings," so Berger also had laid aside the philosopher's cloak, that did not warm him half as well as the rope-dancer's bare vulgarity. Berger had learnt from this man that only he can hope to enjoy real happiness who gives up all pretentions to wealth, to honor, and splendor, and who sees neith

the order. He thought of himself in the dress in which he had seen Berger--a blue, faded blouse, a coarse slouched hat, a stick cut from a thorn-bush--and he shuddered all over. He thought of Doctor Braun, and what he would have said if he had met him in company with Berger--he who gainfully fastidious about his appearance, and considered it a fundamen

by my side? May not much come right again, even if everything does not turn out well? Suppose I were to make up my mind to abandon this striving after exalted ideals which threaten to ruin my mind? If I were to turn back, ev

lose conversation. He thought one of them was Doctor Birkenhain. He did not desire in the least to meet the physician, whose wishes with regard to Berger he had so lamentably faile

is room and

y mail leavi

f-an-ho

a seat in the coach, and bring the bill,"

ir, dir

ately, strengthening himself more and more in his resol

ce is close by here. Thought you would stay over night, sir. Might have given this room to a lady, sir, if we had known, who has just arrived; she has taken

which made it clear that the doors of the K

" asked Oswald, l

morning about her, sir. Will send the porter directly

aceful manner. Oswald rose. His face was deadly pale. He

r Bruno's death, and an hour before his duel with Felix--that letter in which he told her with unfeeling cruelty, though he thought it heroism then, that "his heart was no longer exclusively hers, that he did not intend to deceive her and himself, and that he was bidding her--and perhaps life itself--an eternal adieu?" Or had she received it, and read it with the incredulity

the adjoining room. He heard nothing--nothing

e blissful days of Berkow really to return once m

ed. A doo

er, who has exe

. The soft notes

was Melitta's

voices rose, beca

r; a hoarse, unpleasant laugh broke from his lips. The man

was that necessary? The meeting of the two in this remote little town, which had already once before been the scene of their stealthy rendezvous, spoke eloquently eno

k at t

arry the gentleman's

. The postilion has b

own the long passages, out of the hous

ion played a merry melody in the silent night-air, and Oswald furnished a tex

PTE

d hung so low that the traveller on the high road, which makes a steep ascent close behind the village

le donkey, with the red feathers on his head and the scarlet saddle-cloth on his back, was grazing peacefully in the ditch on the short, ill-fla

pped in a large coarse shawl, silent and motionless, like a couple of Egyptian statues. This attit

s and sorrow--but her features had little now of that haughty energy which formerly made them so remarkable. Her brow was furrowed with small lines; her eyes had sunk deep into th

appeared rising out of the fog. On the box, by the side of the driver, sat an old man with a long, silver-gray moustache. He turned round

or alms. What was his amazement therefore, when he saw that the lady suddenly called to him to stop the horses, exhibiting a

ng both hands of the gypsy. "Now I shall not let you go again. My God, how very

ack some little distance she crossed her arms on her bosom an

forgotten the days at Berkow five years ago? That is my Juliu

carriage; old Baumann also

nd over again. The others spoke to Xenobia, who paid no attention to them, but looke

ou must, give me the little one. I dare not

ady, fit for the house; the gypsy is fit only for the forest. You would d

ve me th

give me

wo go out again into the wide world? To see Oldenburg's little daughter, whom he yearned after, whom he was searching for everywhere, disappear once more, after an accident such as might

be touched. She took Mel

d; "I know it well. I would rather g

nly she took Melitta's hand

he asked, "who C

es

you do for the father'

s cheeks

th," she replied, a

e you goi

-to Be

u going to

ast during

you the Czika as soon as I feel that I am to be gathered to my father

ell not to be aware that if she had once formed a resolution, all persuasion was in vain. She re-entered her

of the horses were no longer heard. The

One could hear from afar off the cries of the driver, an

o the roof and high above the roof with chests and boxes, kettle drums and trombones, stage scenery, poles and ladder

s heard, and the scolding voice of Mamselle Adele. Behind the wagon followed, apparently in eager conversation, the director, Mr. Schmenckel (also with a bright shawl around the neck and a pipe in his mouth), and a man in a blue blouse, with a heavy stick in his hand, and an old slouched hat on his head. Dir

ross-roads the driver stoppe

stepped up and was vociferous

th her, and patted the Czika

kens, we could not get on at all without you. Good-by, professor! Thanks for

her with you," replied

r. Such a good old brick, like yourself, we do not meet

es the whole procession--wagon, horses, and me

TER

of Genoa and Venice. The citizens were a broad-shouldered, hard-headed race, strong in their love and their hatred, and thorough in all their ways. They were justly proud of their liberties and their privileges, and trusted implicitly in their secure position, amid the ocean and bottomless swamps, and the high walls and ramparts of t

f small vessels of light draught, and navigation nowadays cannot well get along with such ships; trade has, besides, sought other roads and found other markets, and Grunwald has slowly but steadily s

rivial appearance, they have after all not been able to straighten all the crooked narrow streets, and to destroy all the poetry of many an old house, with its narrow, lofty, and richly-adorned gable-end. And above the labyrinth of streets, lanes, and courts, with their half-modern, half-medi?val character, there tower still the steeples of glorious churches, which are fa

longer enjoys as of old perfect freedom and sovereign independence, she has profited on the other hand largely by becoming an integral part of a great monarchy. Grunwald has not only a numerous garrison of infantry and artillery, but is also the seat of the highest court of the province; and above all, as everybody knows, enjoys a university, although the light shed by this seat of the muses cannot be said to penetrate far into distant lands. Grunwald is, moreover, the favorite residence of the surrounding nobility, which is particularly rich, and enjoys a very great influence on public life. When the magnificent crops upon their vast domains have been safely housed, when the trees in their parks lose their foliage in the autumn winds, and

TER

ea, the high shores of the island with their noble beech-forests, and the low coast of the continent. The towers of Grunwald rise out of the mist like

oil lamps, whose dim light is useful only in making the mist still denser and the darkness still darker. He has just done with two unusually large and bright lamps before the entrance-gate to a huge, massive building in one of the streets that lead down to

ely seen lighted up, only on solemn occasions, when the family gives one of those stiff evening parties, to

o live in the less gorgeous rooms which look upon the rear. The modest, exceedingly unpretending taste of the mistress of the house prefers the latter, all the more as the f

is lounging in a most comfortable position opposite her, in a large easy-chair, filled with soft cushions. The young man wears his right arm in a sling, and the sickly pallor of his face contrasts strangely with his hair, as carefully parted and curled as ever, and with the whole toilet, which is as perfect as usual. Between the two stands a table, covered with letters and papers, all of them written i

oung man brea

" he says, raising himself slightly in his easy-chair, a

eve a word of it," r

tante! although you have read th

s handwriting! what must the sca

but what is in the

he not send us

expect from my good friend Timm, who is a very sly fox, I assure you. He evidently does not fear to be unmasked, but only to be deceived or over-reached by us, else he would not have made the offer to submit the origina

do you

itz as of my own existence, and therefore I hate the man, as one is apt to hate such an interloper of a relative, especially if

have infallibly brought down upon the ex-lieutenant a severe reprimand from his h

ld of that Marie Montbert has not been fully established by the clearest evidence. I grant the thing is probable--it may be

smile. "You may say thousands! Timm will not

aising her eyebrows, Juno-fashion. "That man wil

dandy, laconically, and fe

ct his fingernails to a minute examination, while the baroness busied herself in arranging t

eps us waiting,"

m of old. Whenever he pretended to be tired, and to wish to go

nnounced: "Mr. Albert Timm d

herself upright, with her accustomed digni

ste, while the servant went to show in Timm. "If the rascal sees t

lthough the unusual flush on her cheeks and th

t of the persons in the room and the door ope

brow, the same smoothly-brushed light hair, the same fresh, rosy cheeks, and the same impertinent smile upon the smooth, handsome face. If the baroness looked at her favorite, in spite of his un

m most reluctantly, and heartily shaking Felix's left hand (the other was in the sling). "Delighted, baroness, to see you look so remarkably w

d the table, sat down, and looked at the two with eyes beaming with inso

tting the arms of the chair with his hands "And the baron stayed a

ery important business," said the

mself about business when his business is, like the bar

lix, with very perceptible irony; "otherwise I should not be able

no business,"

become one,"

e Jews, and sues them afterwards, when they

e to the taste of the ex-lieutenant that he turned over imp

d better come

his chair close to the table, with an exp

and downcast eyes into her lap, "to send us, at our request, copies of certain letter

ich you have

there is nothing in them all to show how this fabulous son of my uncle Harald can be helped

point de vue from which you look

you will inform

n Baron Harald and Mademoiselle Marie Montbert, but which would also, in the hands of an able, practical man (such as any good lawyer would represent), give a certain clue to the subsequent fate of th

rtain clue, Mr. Timm?"

aculous circumstances the heir in question, bears, in the first place, the same name which Monsieur d'Estein (pray look at letter No. 25) says he intends to assume after the elopement with Marie Montbert. In the second

know that?"

old woman in whose house Mr. Stein lived from the fir

o

who eloped with Marie Montbert from Grenwitz, viz., Monsieur d'Estein, who a

e same

ent looked exactly like the man who a f

to prove," cried Felix wi

the night of the elopement the couple in his carriage from Grenwitz to that very ferry on which you crossed to-day. This man's name is Clas Wendorf; he lives in Fashwitz, and is well known to everybody (even to the Rev. Mr. Jager) as a perfe

statement, in a manner which betrayed but too clearly the consternati

use of the last four

nybody into the secret until I should have communicated the matter more fully to you, and I meant to keep my promise. Hereafter, when I can go to work without any such precautionary m

ubbed his hand

iculous affair public?" said Anna Maria,

n air of ingenuous simplicity which, in a farce, would have

on gossip and the scoff and scorn of vulgar plebeians, an affair which concerns no one

become louder and louder, as they watched

nd it impossible to believe that. But what am I saying? You will laugh at me that I have taken a jest, by which you wished to ridicule my over-great desire to serve you, for a moment in good earnest. Do I not know better than anybody else that I have acted exactly according to your views by preserving all the documents, the sacred relics of departed friends, like a precious treasure, and by doing whatever I could do towards securing the property to the rightful owner? Do I not know that your hesitation,

at of the baroness as she was now sitting opposite to Mr. Timm. The cruel irony with which Mr. Timm appealed to that sense of justice and equity of which she had boasted all her life, and of which she after all had nothing but the outward appearance, seized her like a hot iron. Her

too tired to-night to explain to you my own views of the affair. I have requested my nephew, Felix, to do it in my place, and I beg you, therefore, to look upon anything he may tell you as if it were

aid Mr. Timm, accompanying the baroness to the door; "hope it is nothing but a passing indisp

hair opposite to Felix, put his hands on his knees, and said, in a dry, short mann

bi

f the other, and who yet is not quite sure that he will not be duped. They both remembered, moreover, that there was an old account to settle between them, which dated back from the time when Ensign Baron Grenwitz had treacherously abandoned Ensign Albert Timm in ord

ch threatened to master him as he faced his adversary, who was armed cap-a-pie and utterly without pity. St

matter without reservation or trick, like me

as I do, why, then, the whole thing is

then frankly, w

er; it is your duty first to say

or that you will never inform any one, whosoever it be, by writing or by

erstand wha

o you ask o

a low but very distinct voice, with h

russian current money, payabl

in spite of his feebleness, and running around the ro

ugged his

two estates of Stantow and Baerwalde. You must know

ied Felix, still running ab

own in the kitchen. Sit down, if you please, and let

Albert uttered these words acted like a douche upon Felix'

ever listen to

's sake, if you were not to accept my offer. I can o

on no one but yourself who

lose and so strong--leaving only a few meshes open on purpose till I should hear your decision--that I can draw it together at any moment, right over your head, and you may struggle as you

al interest whatever

ou want to marry Miss Helen? and are not the

Who says so? I d

n--who is even now your favored rival--at least evil report has it so--and who will lose nothing, I am sure, in Miss He

atal encounter with Oswald, writhed like a worm on which somebody has trod. He could not but confess that for the moment Albert was by far the stronger of the

ou demand. But you know my aunt, and you know that she would rather let matters go on to the last point than to make such an enormous sacrifice. I tell you, Timm, it can't be done; upon my word, it can't be done. And what do you want with so much money at onc

plied Albert. "Won't do; and besides, what security

n in your possession and which you are not expected

; but among good friends we ought no

ke it out

if it should fall into the hands of the wrong person, commit the family of Grenwitz more seriously than t

o you want the first

uld th

s standing back in the room, opened a drawer, took a few packages

nt t

a mistake in counting. Well, Grenwitz, that matter is nicely arranged; now let us have a bottle

y do

who came to bring a bott

n better humor; he had another question to ask ye

"that I have met you half way, as far as I could. O

us

, how is litt

rest have

have an inte

think I know any

oth at Grenwitz, and besides--

insta

till more of the little thing, till it ended in my thinking the girl really very charming and prodigiously attractive. But she pretended to be so v

bert. "I am, indeed, as good

nd a wife! and worse than that, a poor wife!--what has become of your form

Albert, emptying his gl

n love wit

me more than

e way of speculating. Let me have the girl, and I assume the three

?" said Albe

sa, Helen's maid, and my own man's lady love, who happened to se

could not repress his anger a

at you find somebody who is willing to relieve y

time," said Albert, rising and ta

e, and come and see your old

he second part of the conversation had not been to his taste, or he thought it good policy to assume an ai

TER

much like that of an honest lover who is waiting on a cool autumn evening in a dense fog for the lady of his heart, whom he has orders to call for "punctually at seven, but be sure to be punctual," to see her home from a litt

f Miss Bear; and the young lady for whom he is waiting is his betrothed Sophie, the only child of the privy councill

ing out his watch and looking at it by the faint light of a badly-burning cigar; "

which threatened to singe his moustache, an

d the bonnet--a kiss to say good-by then a little bit of a chat of ten minutes about the next place of meeting--then anot

nly form which had come out of the house, and now hastened with light steps acr

for me," answers the girl, affectionate

thing to speak of!

ssed so quickly, although the whole party consiste

probably,

l--and th

n Gre

Bear, although her friends are coming to town for the winter, If they have not already com

hy

weeks at home? And as long as the Grenwitz family was not living in town, there might have been some explanation; but now--oh, I think it is abominable. People must think of

says Mis

at most she occasionally mentions her father, whom she seems to l

much too proud eve

w s

mits to endure it as well as he can. But there are characters which resist as long as it is possible, and when nothing

to her betrothed and

no particular reason for being so. But since then, when papa was taken sick and I sat by his bedside, and my greatest anxiety--next to that about papa's life--was whether you had received

im to lie down, but he insisted upon

d so much time! L

becoming more oppressive. An unmarried man is a fish; but an engaged man is neither fish nor flesh. When two people are in their own heart and conscience man and wife through their mutual love, they ought to be man and wife also in the world, before men

e not finished hal

arry with hal

go from him; and shall I just now ask such a sacrifice from him, when

s than he is, and he is far too sensible not to see that my plan is the best.

o. But I fear, I fear, Heaven do

urage to determine upon their own happiness. For, how s

ith his nervous, very delicately-organized system, this was likely to be fatal. But if the father died before his daughter had been married, the poor girl would have been placed in a very painful position, as her mother had been dead for many years, and she had neither brothers and sisters nor any near relations. The world with its prejudices would have hardly been willing

husiasm generally formed a part of her clear and sensible character, which shrank

perfection in more than one of the arts. In the morning he would take his pupils, hour after hour, from bed to bed in the hospital, and open to them views into the innermost workings of nature. Then again he would wander for long hours from house to house, soothing here a sufferer's pains, comforting others, and exhorting them to patient endurance. And yet in the evening,

t it still better; others declared his bon-mots were better than his prescriptions, and a good story more welcome to him than the most famous case in his practice. Still others said that the essence of his nature was a restless vanity, which induced him to try all the arts and to play the M?cenas for all travelling artists and spoilt men of genius. Still others--so-called practical men, who laid no claim to any opinion in ma

l bargaining and all haggling. If he had lived economically he might have become a very rich man, for his income was considerable; but Mammon would not stay in his hands, which were ever open to all who were poor and suffering. He never could force himself to accept money from the hard hand of a mechanic, even if the sum had been ever so small. "It is bad enough," he used to say, "that Nature has not wisdom enough to allow only such pe

ot made to be content with meagre fare and thin beer; he was fond of rich, savory dishes and fiery old wines; above all he loved to share the pleasures of his table wi

his daughter, in whom he soon concentrated all his affections. He remembered too well the old saying, apud novercam queri! He had seen the fairy tale of Cinderella repeat itself in too many families. Thus he left his child in the hands of nurses and governesses whom he paid magnificently, and sent her, when she was old enough, to Miss Bear's boarding-school, in case anything should have been forgotten in her outward polish or her inner culture. In the meantime he kept a kind of bachelor's hall, which

gime, was dismissed, it is true; but--as the doctor said, "the bad one is gone, the bad ones have stayed"--the servants stole just as before, and the privy councillor did not know yet "what in all the world could have become of the miserable money?" As it could not well be otherwise under such circumstances, the acc

thout hope. People told it one to another with grave faces, and said it would be an irreparable loss to science, especially as far as the university was concerned, which had had in Roban its only really great man since Berger had become insane. But of all who suffered by the loss, the poor were most seriously threatened, since they lost in the privy councillor their generous friend and protector. For many and many a day on

of threatenings on all sides. For a long time it remained uncertain whether life or death would be the end, and when at last the cruel conflict was decided in favor of life, death

her little party; and he had dismissed his son-in-law, who had taken his practice provisionally in hand and came to see him every evening--for he wished to be alone. He felt the necessity of availing himself of the first hour in which the pressure on his brain was less overwhelming, for the purpose of thinking ove

threw even upon every-day occurrences a bewitching light? Where, above all, your Olympian cheerfulness, which made it so easy for you not to be angry or excited, but allowed you to fight at most with a humorous smile and satirical wit against the misery and wretchedness of life, against the stupidity and vulgarity of men? Where are the thousand arguments with which you often nearly overwhelmed the pessimist views of your friend Berger, when you tried to persuade him that this earth was by no means a vale of tears from the rising to the setting of the sun, but a wide, fair landscape, in which hill and dale, waste deserts and Elysian fields

only a pensioner on life, and that death might come at any moment to collect the debt which was long since due. And yet, much as he was attached to life, this was his least sorrow. The physician did not struggle against omnipotent fate, which had never yet granted him one of its victims; the pupil of Epicure knew that joy and grief, delight and suffering, are inseparably interwoven in our life. But what made his hea

ghed, hiding his deep-

lt, tender child from all the vulgar cares of life? which was to afford her the means always to enjoy a comfortable existence such as alone se

th cares which he tried to keep from himself as long as he could. She took it for granted that her father was, if not a ric

n his daughter's heart, and whom he himself loved with hearty, paternal love; who deserved such friendship, such love, by his upright, noble bearing, by his ability and his goodness; what would he say, what would he do, if he should

ng hands upon his eyes and groaned loud,

pa, you are surely sick again;" and the kindly, firm voice of a man who had taken his hand to feel

ng, silent embrace. He could have wept, but he was ashamed. Sophie asked again and again if he felt worse. Franz, who had ordered lights to be brought in, begged more and more urgently that he should not risk what had been so painfully gained by si

best to humor him in his wishes, and gave a nod to his betrothed to leave him alone with her father. Sop

oung girl, when the privy councillor seized Franz's hand a

er conceal from you under the circumstances, and, since I may

air close to the privy councillor's seat and taking

s sums of money to poor and needy people, which were never returned, had gradually brought him seriously into debt; that he had hoped to w

d partly because he expected an answer from Franz. But the young man sat there with cast-do

as made me hesitate so long before making this communication to you. But it is a terrible task to have to aff

tion he had just made had interrupted and ended their friendship. But Franz moved ne

other affairs you can see how you can manage them yourself. I will have nothing to do with them.' Would you not justly look upon a man who could give such an answer as a monster of heartlessness, as a horrible instance of ingratitude? Exactly such is the relation in which we stand to each other. You are the generous donor; I am the man who receives the costly gift--the immeasurably precious treasure itself is my own Sophie. Between us there can be no longer any question of mine and thine; what I have is yours, for you are to me all in all--my friend, my teacher, and my father. What I have amounts to about ten or eleven thousand dollars, left me by an aunt whom I have never seen in my life, and they are entirely at your disposal. I know that this sum will not suffice to free you from all responsibilities. But

m during the last words spoken

n vain to utter a word; his tear-flooded eyes turned now towards his daughter, who was kneeling before him, and now towards the noble man, who stood by his side leaning over him and looking at hi

e bell and asked the servant to help him carry his master to his room. The privy councillor suffered them to do as they chose. Franz and the servant rolled the chair to

otion was not painful. His eyes shone brightly, his step was elastic like that of a conqueror, and his voice, g

and harsh means. Did I not tell you we should be man and wife four weeks hence? Did I not tell you,

dear

in that bliss for which the ordinary l

heir voices grew low like their steps on the carpet, and what they whispered to each other was sweet and cozy, like the dim rosy ligh

oyed the sight as they walked again and again past his bust, although neither the young man nor the girl could lay claim to a beauty exactly classic. Their tall forms were too lithe for that, wanting in the voluptuous fulness

everything, yet in much of that great honor, especially in that exuberance in thought and sentiment which the author requires for "lofty beings," and of which Sophie has not a trace, unless it be when she plays on the piano, and the genius of Beethoven, her favorite composer, lends her soul the wings which are otherwise wanting. Franz mentions besides, in his diagnosis of his betrothed, a certain cool sobriety of views and judgment, a kind of shyness to go beyond her own self, and a mistrust of all who do not possess this shyness and are too ready to sing their own praises or their own complaints, without inquiring whether the gods have given them a talent for stating what they suffer or not. Sophie, on the contrary, is disposed to be very quiet in moments of great enjoyment or great sorrow, on which account Franz prefers classing her with Jean Paul's "silent children of heaven." Besides, he attributes to Sophie the following qualities and peculiarities, all of which are more or less incompatible with the character of "lofty beings." She is particularly fond, he says, of canary birds, dogs, tree-frogs, rabbit

ell-meaning preceptor under the smiling mask of a good-natured but ironical critic. Sophie, who was not fond of ample explanations, felt grateful to her lover for this mode of instructing her, and Franz adopted this method all the more readily

d laugh or a stolen kiss, that a person who was in the habit of coming every day at this hour to the privy councillor's h

PTE

d betrothed," said he, as he entered t

dially offering her hand to the little man, who came with careful steps to

"you are just in time to help me in my e

, drawing off his gloves and folding them up carefully, "I beg leave

better," r

k in our throats from sheer melancholy and mourning, as has been the case for the last fortnight. Ad vocem supper; is it ready. Miss Sophie? I--who am not lucky enough to be

table for half an hour," said Soph

ng Sophie his arm, and leading her the familiar way into

o sooner been introduced into the house of Privy Councillor Roban than he had poured out his complaints into the willing ear of Miss Sophie; whose large blue eyes encouraged him wonderfully. Sophie had not only listened to the little, lively man, who opened his whole heart to her with Homeric na?veté, as if he could not help doing so

and sometimes without him, the necessary purchases. Her attention went even beyond that. She trained him, after a fashion, for his entrance into society, for there was much to be done. She made him aware that it was not exactly the thing to hold gentlemen with whom he conversed continually by a coat-button, or to turn his back persistently upon ladies by whose side he had

bashful, awkward candidate for the ministry, had arrived one summer afternoon at Berkow, and been presented by old Baumann to the great lady, had never been wholly effaced in the seven long years which he had spent at her house. But Sophie was not grand;

ds, was the most amiable and excellent of men; to render her any service which he could read in her eyes, and, when the privy councillor was ill, to watch with her till Franz should come back, day and night, with womanly patience and tenderness, by the bedside of the sufferer; and n

*

cold," said Sophie, raisi

mperature of this fish," said

perlein, handing her the sau

ugged her

it is cooked, gentlemen. I must k

is to say, if your dress-coat, which you have intended to order ever since you fir

ady!" cried Mr. Bemperlein; "even if I have my

ke a nice coat

all events it would not be the first dr

rlein!" cried Fran

was, during that Robinson Crusoe period of my life, much more inventive and indust

ome to make such a

oy--his name was Christian Sweetmilk, the son of the old tailor Sweetmilk in Long street--who was to be a tailor and wished to be a doctor. We made a covenant that I should teach him every evening, when papa Sweetmilk's stentorian voice announced the closing of the shop, his Latin and Greek grammar; while he in return should instruct me in the use of the needle and the goose. Our studies were carried on with equal secrecy and industry, for I had good reason to fear the jibes of my school-mates, and he the never-missing yard-stick of his father and master. Oh! those were precious hours which we thus spent together, hours never to be forgotten again! I can see us still sitting by the light of a miserable train-

d and looked deeply

old times!

!" replied Bemperlein, touchi

ein?" asked Sophie. "I hope it was not

t he first used up his yard-stick on the shoulders of the attic youth, and then ordered him peremptorily to give up all intercourse with me hereafter, under penalty of being immediately and permanently banished from the paternal house, and of being disinherited besides. My faithful friend told me of the fearful sentence, weeping bitterly, as I met him the next day at the corner of the street. 'But I will not submit any longer to such tyranny,' he cried, flourishing a pair of trousers, which he was ordered to carry to one of his father's customers, with more energy than grace. 'This one more slavish service I will render (and he struck the dishevelled inexpressibles with his closed fist in wild fury) and then I will go into the wide, wide world. Will you go with me? 'It took me some time to quiet the boy. I knew that nothing pained him more than the thought that he would now be unable to help me with my dress-c

he wager?" asked Sop

rough the vast edifice, and the minister proclaimed God's blessing over us; but I heard nothing of all that. I only looked up to the gallery, to a boy with long, brown hair and brown eyes, who kissed his hand to me, and whose dear face was beaming with prid

s, which had become dimmer and dimmer, and was now r

come of Christia

um; his grammar of the Doric poets is considered a most valuable work for phi

me of the dress-co

and looking with a smile at Sophie; "and what is more than that, it still fits me so well that I can present mysel

in?" said Sophie, with unusual se

in, enthusiastically, and

ing, but come in the old one, which has become

u in ea

ou dou

hand reverently, "I will be at your wedding in the

ouncillor. He returned with the welcome news that papa was, for the first time since the beginning of his sickness, lying in quiet, refreshing sleep, and that

ore of a perfect restoration. Sophie embraced and kissed him as a reward for this good news, and Bemperlein vowed he

ich overcomes even the bravest before the beginning of a battle; for Franz felt and knew that to-day the battle of life had commenced for him in good earnest. He had assumed most serious obligations, which might have incalculable consequences for his own future and for Sophie's future. The very heaviest responsibility was henceforth resting on his shoulders. He saw of a sudden the ocean, on which the

rried too, Bempe

replied Mr. Bemperlein "if y

is t

ling to love me, a

ow your taste, and I know exactly what t

aid Mr. Bemperlein, comfortably

s the exterior--for you do attach some import

said Bemper

r future wife mu

y n

I therefore submit that she ought to be delicate and well made, a nice little figur

erlein. "Not so bad!

tune; she must not be

not know what to

so. Am

y said lady must necessarily h

f dark hair and dark eyes; but if you have a

, almost anxiously "I have a

is a very suspicious sign. Do

ccused be examined most rigorously, and persuaded by ev

ands; "he shall give an account of that treacherous redness on his cheeks. Accused!

ss Sophie?" replied Mr. Bemperle

yea! or Nay, nay! accu

ave!" said Bemp

wn hair and brown eyes, di

emperlein, after

her! He has thought of her!" cried M

s she?" as

esently. Accused! does

es

lives in the city. Accused

N

you seen h

Miss S

s! Have you se

concerned had become more and more embarrassed. "Hear, then, oh severe judge, and you, grave assistant judge, with your diabolic smil

us!" cried Sophie. "The aff

Sophie, that the Grenwitz fa

of that. Go

her arrival, and asked me to call on her in the course of the day. Sh

ss are always of the utmos

asten to pay my visit. Towards evening, however

hat was the

as in such a hurry that he nearly ran over me, and he had barely time to say to me 'What on earth are you doi

own eyes, B

wn eyes; which appeared to me at that moment al

unconsciously dropping

I went up to her, took her hand--upon my word I could not help it--and said--what else could I say?--'why do you cry, Mademoiselle?' Her tears flowed only the faster. I repeated my question again and again. 'Je suis si malheureuse!' was all she could utter amid her sobs. That was all I heard. I pitied the poor child, with all my heart. I asked if I could help her. She shook her head. I tried to comfort her, and said whatever can be said in such a state of things. Gradually she calmed down, dried her eyes, pressed my hand, and said, 'Oh, que vous êtes bon!' The

instance, I should like to know myself when Oswal

maid came in, t

ill there?" asked Fr

him, 'No, Mr. Bemperlein was in the room.'

it?" aske

. "What a pity! I shoul

TER

part of the Prussian Vendée was then not yet in possession of a railway. The high towers rose dimly like Ossian's giant bodies in the floating gray

e hundredth time, from sheer weariness, and was conning it over once more, even he did not know it. Nobody knew it, unless it was the crow, which had delayed too long in the woods and was now flying lonely and sadly above the stage-coach towards town, and vanished in the mist. And the trees danced by, more like spectres than ever; and the horses shook more impatiently the heavy collars, and the mist rolled up in closer and darker masses, and through the close and dark mist a few lights become visible; and now the coac

im respectfully to pick out from the other boxes and trunks his own trunk and hat-box, marked in legible letters with a "Doctor Stein, passenger for Grunwald," and then to send these things by a porter to the Hotel St. Petersburg. Here Doctor Stein thought he would be kindly remembered from the

name. Are you going to honor us with your presence for any length of time, sir? No? Much life in town just now: theatre, horse-fair, student's ball.... Doctor Braun? Know him very well, practices in the house since the privy councillor has been paralyzed. Was here to-day.... Where he li

the chair close by; all around silence, when the step of the waiter is no longer heard in the long, narrow passage. Os

days of his former residence here. Was it only the effect of his melancholy humor? Was it the dark, misty evening? He did not recognize the streets--the squares through which he used to walk so often; and when he thought he recalled one or the other feature, it was only like something seen in a dream, where we confound the near and the far chaotically in some great

t had been fast asleep for centuries, and was at best murmuring in a half dream something about its past glory and power. Here and there a light was visi

ness which rested on the waters, and listened to the low, monotonous splashing of the waves which were all the time kissing and caressing the massive blocks of the breakwater. Was this his dearly-beloved sea, on which his dre

lose by the outer end of the wharf on which he was standing. He heard the measured dip of the heavy oars as they struck the waters, and the peculiar low screeching which they cause as they rub against the gunwale; he heard the confused voices of the passengers; he could even, as they came

holas the solemn music of a choral was heard, in which, according to an ancient custom, Grunwald bids every evening at nine o'clock farewell to the day that has gone by. Ordinarily the organist only sends four men up to sing; but on days when a citizen of distinction has been gathered

at Mystery which the grave does not solve, but makes only darker, and how happy th

f a youthful hero gave the command: "Carry arms! Ground arms! Helmets off for prayer!" Piety by order--effusio

mit? You might be as well off as the others. After all, it may not be so bad a thing to sit, as Berger used to call it, in the easy-chair of an office; the night-cap of a sinecure may protect one against many an attack of rheumatism--the effect of

ble, and soon ceased altogether. "Somebody, I dare say, who rides for the doctor; a husband, perhaps, whose wife is taken ill; a father, whose son is lying on his death-bed." Oswald thought of the night when Bruno died, and of his fearful ride across the heath from Grenwitz to Fashwitz. If Bruno had only lived! Oswald thought everything would have happened differently then. It seemed to him as if

e had stood looking by the hour at the open window with the curtains lowered, from which the music of a piano was wafted to him through the soft, silent air; and hours afterwards, long after the light had vanished behind the red curtains and the music had c

f the lofty portal and whispered mysteriously in the dry leaves, a window

tired and sick. He buttoned up his overcoat and turned to go back into the city. A carriage came rapidly towards him. A horseman

the house which the waiter had told him was Doctor Braun's house. The girl who opened the door said her master was at the privy councillor's, adding that he spent all his evenings there. Here Oswald was told that Bemperlein was in the sitting-room--Bemper

he lowest depth of the earth; to forget in sleep the misery of life. In sleep? Why not in wine, when sleep is not to be had? "The best of life is but intoxication," says Byron; and there where a solitary lamp shines dimly between two stone pill

TER

hen Grunwald was wealthy and powerful, are no longer. Those who built these vaults and filled them with ringing of cups, with songs of cheerful converse--the honorable sober-minded burgesses with their broad shoulders, their full, well-trimmed beards, and the broad-swords by their sides--they sleep, all of them, sound, good sleep in the old graveyards, or under the huge slabs of stone with which the churches are paved, if they were members of the co

he solemn citizen who has been belated at some Christening feast or other great festivity, and now walks home with wife and daughter in the silent night through the deserted streets, and past the city cellars,

glass of wine; others who have neither chick nor child at home, and get tired at night among their silent books; still others who, wearied of the monotony of married life, want to have a merry night for once; and still others, who have quite accidentally found their way down the broad cellar-steps, and cannot very well get up again a few hours later, however broad the steps may be. There are

h Berger, without taking much notice of the rest of the company that might be there. Thus the damp, cool air, filled with the peculiar odor of marvellously-ancient

discussing fresh oysters, and Oswald, who had taken his seat not far from him at one of the small round tables, noticed with some astonishment what a mountain of shells the indefatigable worker had already accumulated. And yet he did not look tired. At least he leaned

mountain, and the last drops were f

y renew this gloria. Carole, bring another dozen of these excellent d

encouraged him more than once, as the wind does the prisoner blowing in through the open windows of his prison; it did not fail to

ached him, and greeted hi

ed hand. "You here? Well, that is a most sensible notion of our stupid friend's accident.

ona grata to you, Timm?" said Oswa

on my word, ever since we parted at Grenwitz, and I am as delighted as a snow-bird to see you here again.

hours

t least you look so. Carole, Carole! Why does the fellow not come? At last! Here, dottore, is

e kind words that it would have looked like blackest

ever tried to win, whose amiable frankness he had often met with repulsive coldness, and he felt this all

es again. "I can tell you that I am heartily glad to have met you the very first nigh

e souls ought to be celebrated in a nobler beverage. Carole! A bottle of champagne--Clicquot and frappé--else, by the bones of my fathers, the lightning of my wrath falls upon your bald pate. And now come, dottore mio, tell us something of your wanderings; or, ra

ne, Timm's company, and the whole atmosphere, were gradually putt

eally wis

tain

must not blame me, Stein, if I touch a s

o you think I

e. Eh bien! Some say you had favored an understanding between Bruno--what a pity, by the way, the poor boy had to bite the grass so young!--and Miss Helen; that Felix had come to you to hold you to an account about this in the name of th

d, between his teeth, hastily throwin

't be a child, and wash your anger down in a glass of th

us

h favor; and the broken arm of the baron was not the effect of a fall, but of a pistol ball, which was

ich reading d

u ashamed to confess the lady of your overflowing heart? and to deny her before me--me, the wise Merlin, who can hear the grass grow and the eyes sigh? Have I not heard the sighing of your beautiful eyes in those sunny days which are no more, when you and she, two children of a rare kind, played innocently under the rose-bushes and thought that no one saw you, not even the Creator of heaven and earth who gave you the warm breath wit

-have you seen her since

the rose of Sharon amid dandelions, gliding over the pavement of Grunwald, through dismal streets; and the paving-sto

who thought it would be folly to try and conceal his at

s she raised her beautiful eyes, and always she looked at me inquiringly: Can you bring me no news of him--of him, the only man I love dearly? Why, Oswald, I--a prosy old fogy--I speak in verses whenever I think of the maid; and you, who are a poet, mean to deny that you love her with all your heart, with all your soul, with all y

ollowed, while bald-headed Charles placed a new bottle of champagne into the wine-cooler, tu

natural. Oswald, however, was too busy with his own thoughts to notice this. He thought Timm was sincere, and he was flattered by the lively interest which he

re not put full faith in your friendship, it was only because I felt how little I had deserved it. Le

life more than any one else, can look upon the world in a way which seems only fit for sick canary birds and like invalids. I should say nothing if you had never commenced to enjoy it from mere bashfulness, or if you had wasted your strength in enjoyment; but as nei

hat is

le, and the smooth face in his white

t is--wh

lars annual incom

remedy for conte

l one, and in your

ctly in

s once more, lighted a

hip the Virgin Dolorosa. The former enjoy the good things of life in cheerful happiness; the latter prefer a grumbling resignation and meditative asceticism. In order that both classe

on, Timm, tell me first to which of

have the invaluable talent of the camel to be able to thirst a long time without losing heart or appetite; on the contrary, abstinence only serves in my case to sharpen the appetite and to season the next drink more attractively. When I have travelled through the desert, and--as just now, for instance--the bra

hampagne with the hasty eagerness of a tra

ed the sharply-accented red lips! How the words flew from these lips, swift as feathered arrows, each one of which hits the bull's-eye! What a sovereign contempt for mere phrases, for any kind of ornament, for all those rags with which hypocrites and fools try to cover their nakedness! How eloquent the whole bearing of the man,

o such an analysis. He felt down here, in this deep, quiet cellar, with its dim, mysterious light of two small candles, as if he were thousands of miles away from the rest of the world. He had come here to drink himself int

tention to this contradiction in you. Do you recollect what I told yon already at Grenwitz? You hate the nobles, you hate the rich, you hate the powerful, because the ten fingers of our hands itch with a desire to be noble and rich and powerful yourself. Do not talk to me of your moral humbug of the nobility of mind, the wealth of a pure heart, and the power of truth! All that is mere stuff for those who know what merchandise is sold in the market of life. Pshaw! what has a man like you to do with poverty--a man of your youth, your charms, your pretty face--for, by heaven, Oswald, you are a handsome fellow,

you were capable o

uriosity to see how you would act in

f that, as I did when I was a boy with the cherries

ese words with flushed cheek and raised voice.

hen there occurred to me, as to Wallenstein, the question: who of all those whom I meet here evening after evening meant it best and most honestly? and that it should be the one who would first enter at the door. But, strange enough, contrary to all the customs of the place, not

ld. "There is just one more gla

ut of this glass!" cried Albert, and

aking glasses sounded shrill and painful to h

of the hall, nodding, started up when he heard the noise, and

we had better have another bottle. We sh

head burns. And I have to call, to-morrow,

cent from this gentleman, I break this empty bottle on your bald skull! Come! Make yourself paid out of this rag for

ho seemed to be not a little astonished at this sudden wealth in the hands of one of his very worst customers. At least he grinned in a very pec

ast of gues

me out of

each other

s from my li

t were now walking home, arm in arm, as it became such good and intimate friends: Oswald unusually heated and excited, Albert as cool and fresh as if he had been drinking nothing but water in the city cellars at Grunwald. They talked over the members of the town council and of the college on whom Oswald had to wait the next day, and Oswald's career at the college especially, which Albert declared was a fabulous idea, such as no one could have co

TER

s and half a dozen stearine candles poured in floods over the displayed magnificence; but even the rector's study, on one side, and the sitting-room and chamber of the two daughters, on the other side, had been changed into salons by removing the writing-table in the one, and the

hief, which gives him, in connection with a somewhat vague softness of his features, an ideal, not to say an effeminate expression. He is fully conscious of the soft character of his appearance, and does all he can to heighten the effect. His speech is soft, his voice is soft, his movements are soft. "I am called Clemens, and I try to do honor to my name," he is accustomed to say, modestly, whenever anybody compliments him o

twice the voyage to the Indies. It is hard to understand why her etherealizing husband with his enthusiasm for Hogarth's line of beauty, should have chosen her above all others, and the only explanation is to be found in that mysterious affinity which unites the strong and the weak, the stern and the gentle. The contrast between the two characters, however, does not appear quite so striking upon closer observation. The husband has succeeded in len

nelda her father, but the difference in character, which the common longing after humanity has nearly effaced in the parents, is still very perceptible in the daughter

Rector Clemens, looking at his watch for the twelfth time in the

r a moment on the sofa and wiping her heated brow with her handkerchief. "I had asked Doctor St

s Fredegunda Clemens from the adjoining room, w

l as Broadfoot," replied Miss

ot going to quarrel now," said t

t stop teasing me

better than everybody else," said

cries Doctor Clemens, with imploring voice, raising his

a maid, and in walk Professor Snellius, Mrs

They receive the new-comers as heartily as people who have worke

nd the nostrils, the same earnestness, the same majesty, the same tall form, which, however, was not dressed in ideal costume, but yielded so far to the demands of the time as to submit to a plain black suit, in which the painful neatness is interrupted only by the spotless white of a somewhat tight cravat. Professor Snellius is a pedagogue in the fullest sense of the word. His erudition is literally overwhelming. He teaches all the modern languages, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Sanscrit, and is not quite unacquainted even with Chinese, which he reads in his leisure hours. He is enthusiastic about the young and h

ooks marvellously like her father, and has the reputation of having inherited largely the erudition of her father. She likes to converse with highly-educated gentlemen--with others she does not speak at all--of

tty daughter. Mary Kubel is indeed a very pretty, brown-eyed girl, ever cheerful and ready to laugh, who is unspeakably despised by the Misses Snellius and Clemens; by the former because she has once confounded Alexander and William von Humboldt; and by the latter because she has no idea of reading dramatic compositions. To-day she especially roused the indignation of Thusnelda and Fredegunda, because she arrived at the same time with the two doctors, Winimer and Broadfoot, and therefore has the appearance of having them in her train. Now Thusnelda and Fredegunda are accustomed to claim the attentions of these two gentlemen as their own exclusive right, and that not without reason, for Mr. Winimer has already worn a lock of Thusnelda's hair near his heart for about six months, and exhibits

ens, rubbing his hands softly and raising his voice m

fessor Snellius. "I thought the ques

r you to-night, gentlemen and ladies. There will be two new guests here, besides our new coll

a surprise!" says Mrs. Clem

n, not only as our guests for to-night, but to win them permanently over for our little club; and for that purpose,

asked Doctor Winime

of letters, and a lady who will be of special interest

r, his pride and his ornament, a gesture for which he receives his punishment im

a highly-gifte

mean Mrs. Professor Ja

agments of Chrysophilos, will appear to-night as stars, and, we hope, be willing to

ishment, testified to the interest fel

an entire stranger in our circle, and seems to be remarkably shy, embarrassed, and little accustomed to move in larger circles. Mr. and Mrs. Jager, he told me himself this morning, are old

Professor Snellius, pressing the rector's hand, and disp

s to read "Max," and is all the more opposed to any change of programme, as his beloved Thus

owing no opposition. "That is a very nice part, and he can show to-night whether he can read or not. I should have liked, to be sure, to read it o

el, "do you really think those parts are quite s

asks the manager, with

rticularly to make their first appearance

aks, is about to reply, but is prevented from doing so, for the door opens at tha

ble impress of the scholar's conceit and the priest's pride. Mrs. Jager affords the same sight, only translated into childish and foolish words. The author of the "Cornflowers" has the air of a person who expects every moment an effusion of overwhelming praise, and is quite determined to deprecate it. If the appearance of the professor reminds one of the well-known wolf in sheep's clothes, and one cannot very well feel quite safe in his neighborhood, his wife's appearance recalls the familiar crow, who thought herself Juno's own bird, and it requires an effort to remain serious

appear since their triumphant return to Grunwald. Rector Clemens is known for the intelligent and interesting company he has at his house; he surpasses in this the other professors of the university even, unless it be Privy Cou

ft years have passed over your brown hair without leaving a trace. Indeed, indeed, mens sana in corpore sano. I learnt that from you, but you have practised what you taught, Doctor Winimer, I rejoice exceedingly to make your personal acquaintance; both myself and my wife have known you long and held you dear, through your charming 'Mayflowers.' Permit me t

. She had, like the "maiden from afar," a gift for every one. She pays a compliment to the elder ladies. She envies Thusnelda and Fredegunda their "charming, hi

late," says Rector Clemens, looking at his

dear sir?" asks Profes

ld?" asks Primula, who is full of reminisc

fe are about to answer these questions, the door

TER

other gentlemen and ladies, belonging to the college, he had perhaps seen now and then in company during his former residence in Grunwald, but without noticing them or being noticed by them. When he had paid his visits during the day, he had found nobody at home except the Kubel family. The gentlemen were curious to see their new colle

had taken Oswald from the first moment into her poetic heart, on account of his "fair, chevalieresque, and truly romantic appearance," as she called it, and all the admonitions of her husband had not been able permanently to arrest the current of her sympathetic sentiments. She had, to be sure, paid due respect in the country to existing circumstances, and dropped the fallen greatness, but she had determined in her heart to follow the impulse of her soul freely whenever she should be able to let her captive psyche fly wit

r forgotten the insult offered to Pastor Jager, and waited only for a suitable occasion to pay off the long accumulated debt. He was, however, far too clever and too cowardly to come out with it openly, as the gentlemen of the college now questioned him about Oswald, whom he declared he knew perfectly. He contented himself with mysterious hints, as: "a young man, about whom much might be said-

ga!" said Rector Clemens sec

shrugged his shou

have in his intercourse with us. The acqu

e," supplied

rofessor, "is the best training for

y," supplied

noticed with great disgust how merrily Miss Fredegunda, who generally distinguish

hand through his hair. "He has a way of bending over ladies in their chairs

nda, but he lost his courage on the way; and in order to mask the unsuccessful attack, he took a cup of tea from the waiter which a

her they should now begin the reading of Wallenstein--the original purpose

"But why do I ask? There is in Wallenstein only one part for you, as

ently on the arm with the book which she was holdi

character in the piece ought to be represented by the most poetical charact

lness--who could that be?" asked Primula, with melting

e there is a mark. Let us see where it is. 'Act Third.--Scene First.--Countess T

ook, which Oswald handed back to her with an ironical bow, to her

I believe in no accident, at least only in the most fortunate accident which has l

Oh believe me, Mr. Stein, I have been your friend ever since you put your foot on our humble threshold;

were already seated around the long table, which was covered with a white cloth, and lighted up with two lamps and two candles. At the upper end stood Mrs. Rector Clemens, the founder and manager of the "Dramatic Club,"

r Thusnelda, Doctor Stein? Mrs. Jager, you will please take a seat by Profess

of a few hundred furious representatives of the people. As the absolute silence reigning in the whole assembly furnished no pretext for this display of energetic efforts, Mrs. Manager at l

than we have members, I have been forced to leave out several which did not appear to me essential. But even then there remained a few which I could not well fill, and which would have remained blank if some of our dear guests who give us the pleasure of their company to-night had not put it into my power

ice and read, amid the atte

in, Recto

lomini, Profe

omini, Doc

redegunda

Doctor

Doctor B

, Mrs.

ss Ida S

, Mrs.

Terzky,

Thusneld

eubrunn, M

ptain, Doc

} Mr. and

n Wallenst

Don

ed persons as they heard their names coupled so intimately with the names of the murderers of the hero. Professor Jager drew down the corners of his mouth lower t

t a blood-dripping cave of brutal Troglodytes? Was he the interpreter of the fragments of Chrysophilos, or was he not? Was she the famous author of the "Cornflowers," or

ific and poetic fame; no one, with the exception perhaps of fat Doctor Kubel, who replied to an interrogative glance of the professor with a friendly grin, and Oswald, who stealthily pressed Primula's hand under the table as a sign of his sympathy, for Primula sat on his left, while Thusnelda was his right-hand neighbor. Otherwise nobody troubled himself

ant," whereupon the young lady begged her to "let her observe Venus first, that was just rising and shining in the east like a sun," but her v

mens changed Wallenstein into the gentle member of a Moravian brotherhood; Professor Snellius, the clever, intriguing Octavio, into a wooden pedant; Doctor Winimer howled and groaned as the noble son of an ignoble father, so that unspeakable horror befell every heart; and Docto

, an unvarnished enthusiasm which rewarded the performances of some, as those of Doctor Winimer; and with all that an unselfish modesty with which less gifted members, like Marie Kubel, submitted t

ked with his small, green eyes over the frame of his large, round spectacles at his wife, his fellow-sufferer, his companion in his disgrace. The conduct of the poetess was, of course, far more striking, as might have been expected from so eccentric a character. Now she would throw herself back in her chair with crossed arms and fix her eyes on the ceiling, and now she would lean forw

"ready to die," Mrs. Clemens once more began to ring with all her might, and gave thus the signal for a long pause, which, according to § 25 of the statutes, occurred i

r had this time, as always, surpassed them all, and that Miss Marie Kubel had not yet spoken loud enough, although, generally speaking, she might be said to have made some progress. The gentlemen gave each other marks, as they did with their school-boys, and of course all received the highest number. The ladies spoke of the sublime poet, o

ess of the second room (otherwise the chaste bed-chamber of the two Misses Clemens), whispering eagerly to her husband. He was about to wit

imula, with the holl

er?" asked Oswald

o read!" breathed Primula; "Jager ha

t I should like to avoid a scene; I pray you, darling, w

," said Oswald. "I do not see how you can be save

s' a murderer--a wretched assassi

terpreter of Chrysophilos is in the same position,

om the professor rewarded

for insults," sobbed Primula.

oom cut Primula short. She stepped ahead of the two gentlemen w

d ringing of bells, to Oswald; "don't be afraid, and read bravely on. Even if you do not do

revere in you," rep

e better. To be sure when I recently heard Holtei, who is probably the best re

e it," sa

dfoot, as Colonel Butler, raised his voi

e. Fate led

row apace as the fatal moment approached, that he could hear the words of Fr?ulein Neubrunn, "The Swedish captain is here," without excitement. He actually asked Princess Thekla--Thusnelda, quite cooll

chance ha

uickly my fam

ng scenes also passed unnoticed, till at last the fatal net encloses Wallenstein altogether in its meshes, and dark Colonel Butler distributes, in the secrecy of his rooms, the parts to be taken by the murderers. Already Major Geraldine has hurried off wit

s he saw the face of the sufferer turn pale

swell, cleared her voice, and said, with the soft voice of a s

e are,

the word we, because there were two murderers, availed herself of

e are,

t snapped asunder; the insulted poetess rose, clo

I am unable to read any more. But as I--can--not even--rea

ell back into her chair and

nd the professor if his wife was subject to such attacks? Nobody suspected the true cause of her condition, which the gentlemen tried to remedy by persuasion, and the ladies by Cologne water. But Primula would accept neither the one nor

were still standing about in the sitting-room and discussing the facts, a letter was handed to

note, which contai

me away. I am wait

e every moment more and more intolerable to him. He said he had received news which r

cried, seizing Timm, who was delighted to se

ains; meant to help you, poor fellow. Come, let us wash down the le

Sec

PTE

and a teacher at the end; no letter passed the threshold of the house, going out or coming in, which was not first subjected to a close scrutiny in Miss Bear's study, and stamped there, so to say, with the official seal; but these and similar regulations are either common to all "boarding-schools for young ladies," or there was, in certain cases, a special reason for them. The institution was intended for the "higher classes," whose female offspring was counted upon for its support; this meant almost exclusively the high nobility of the district, as the daughters of persons not noble rarely sought admission, and still more rarely found admission. Now it happens that young ladies of rank born and bred in th

ich seemed to deepen and to multiply every year? Like so many among us, she was what she was, not because she wished to be so, but because she was forced to be so. It was her vocation to look stern, and to frown, as it is the vocation of others to smile forever, and to wear as

rudence and her cleverness had helped her to escape from all dangers, till she was old enough to be left alone, and to procure for herself a kind of independence by establishing a school upon the savings of long years and the presents she had occasionally received. Her honorable character was known to everybody; and this, and the experience she had

rivy councillor was the physician of the institution, and Miss Bear was under great obligations to him. Even her noble patrons, therefore, understood

far as to say that she had not only raised but also spoiled the girl, and it could not be denied that Sophie--little Sophie, as the She Bear said--could dare what no other boarder, not even Emily von Breesen, who was at the same time there, and who passed for absolutely untamable, would ever have ventured to do. Sophie could interrupt Miss Bear in the most violent philippic against any wrong-doer who had done something especially horrible, e. g., cutting round holes in

ness Grenwitz had expressed a wish to send her daughter Helen back for some time to the institution to finish her studies, especially in the sciences. Now such a step was remarkable enough in itself, as Miss Helen was coming straight from a well-known, superior school, in which she had spent four years; but it became still more embarrassing by the circumstance that the instructions which Miss Bear received from the baroness on one side, and from the baron on the other, differed essentially as to the degree of freedom to be grant

te of things at Grenwitz, and what he had not explained she readil

efused to consent. In return, they have banished her for a time from her paternal home. You will surely not increase the hardship by being unnecessarily severe against the poor girl? Surely, Miss Mal, that would not be like you. Do what the father says: tre

et of which she herself was not yet fully convinced. Helen, moreover, had become her friend in the meantime; at least she was most devotedly attached to the pretty girl, although she had reasons to doubt whether Helen, in her haughty pride and reserve, returned her love. It was mainly their common enthusiastic love for music which had brought the two young ladies so closely together. They soon found, not only that they shared this enthusiasm, but that they compl

ophie's parlor, without ever getting tired. Helen insisted that nobody had ever accompanied her as well as Sophie; and Soph

stopped frequently, and they had to turn again to music in order to fill a pause which threatened to become painful. Sometimes Sophie thought Helen was making a violent effort to break the charm which bound her in silence, but she nev

ite of her black hair, and her dark, brilliant eyes. You ca

councill

n with each other, it is perfectly logical that different moral atmospheres, like that in which the nobles live and that in which we live, must also produce morally different be

Bear herself," answe

h his satirical smile, "one can become good fri

and forgave her this shyness all the more readily as she was not quite free from it herself. She was herself generally looked upon as stern and cold, and many people declared openly that "she was not at all like

intimate with Undines," if she had been able to look over Helen's shoulder on the afternoon of the third day after Oswald's arrival in Grunwald. Helen was writing to her fr

eer, that I, Helen von Grenwitz, to whom you prophesied such a brilliant future, have been sent back to boarding-school! sent to boarding-school, like a naughty girl; sent to boarding-school, like a gosling from the country! You wonder; you smile incredulously; you lisp your 'It is impossible!' and when you find at last that you h

in short, if

y pride, my knight, sans peur et sans reproche, my brother, my friend, my darling Bruno, is no more! He died fighting for me, and has breathed the last of his young, heroic soul in a kiss upon my lips. The fierce grief about this loss--for I only knew what he had been to me when I had him no longer--made me dull and indifferent to everything and everybody around me. As this boy loved me, no one on earth ever can and will love me again. I was light and air to him; I was meat and drink to him; I was waking and sleeping--I was life itself to him. How often have I l

he hope that the future at least may bring us the fulfilment of our wishes? Is fortune ever to appear to us only as a fata morgana--charming in its beauty and treacherously fleeting? Or is it ever to present itself only in a shape which, however great the inner value may be, offends our delicacy--our prejudices, if you choose to call them so? Your lot, to be sure, it seems, is to be different. In

reliable. She told me what had occurred after my departure from Grenwitz, and what papa had carefully kept from me; that the young man, of whom I wrote you already last summer, our tutor, Doctor Stein, has become my knight and my avenger, inasmuch, at least, as he has fought a duel with Felix, and given my great cousin a lesson which he will probably not forget very soon, as I learn from the same authority. I cannot tell you how strangely this news has affected me. At first--I may confess to you--my pride was offended that my name should be coupled in the world with the name of a man like Mr. Stein; that a stranger, a hireling, should have assumed responsibilities for me, as if he were a relative, and my equal in rank. But then I thought of the old saying, 'that if the people were silent the stones would speak;' I remembered that a brother could not have behaved more brotherly, nor a knight more chivalr

Miss Roban, who comes to play with

hie Roban passed Miss Bear and embraced Helen, with an affectionate haste which

t come to see me since the other night, when you promise

iendly blue eyes of her favorite. "You know, little Sophie, that Helen is perfectly free to dispose of her time. But that was

the direction, and said: "Yes, indeed; from my father!" and put it

Bear. "Little Sophie comes to carry you home with

before the piano, and was looking at a collection of music. "I have received so

nish a letter for England to-night, so that I can send it off to-morrow morning. I

g first Helen very lightly on the forehead, and the

inkled up her brow in imposing severity, and rustled back to her

father to-day

"he is much better; he has stayed up to-day a couple of hours long

found Helen holding the letter in one hand, which hung down, while her head rested in the other, and she was evidently

tily closing the book and putting it do

t the first sound of Sophie's voice, and tried to smi

st

es

you--

t that. My father leaves

-wrathful expression of face. She seemed to have forgotten Sophie

nsulted, be the first to offe

en to her about her affairs, not even in allusions. She was not to know anything of them, therefore, and yet it did n

rt pause, "on what the offence was, and

w s

who can never be such--who ought never to be such--I mean persons who stand so near to

y persecuted and warred against each other, who ought to support, help, and bear one another--how then?" Helen had risen; her face was all aglow; he

my part could never be placed in such a position. I could never hate brother or sister, much less father

d brother or sister; your mother died very early; your father has, as you told me

keep up her reserve hereafter, and broke off with a suddenness which showed

ged air, tone, and carriage, "and about most unprofitab

cially as she felt how Helen was entirely left alone, and what a blessing it would have been to her to be able to pour out her overburdened heart into the sympathizing bosom of a true friend. She did not feel offended,

e than one occasion

ell any longer, and were walking up and down in the room, arm in arm, while the effect of the music was still vibrating in their hearts, and even Helen's proud heart felt milder and softer. She had been f

alas! so fa

my dreams

angel-like

pain and gr

one, they a

also will be p

he midst of the dancers to Bruno's dying bed; she saw again how

one, they ar

also will be p

if she were spe

great an impression upon you as

Helen, suddenly aro

indifferently as if she had never given a thought to the re

ked Helen again, in her or

seen Franz. Yesterday Franz met him accidentally in the street, and brought him hom

w s

er saw him. But to tell the truth, he looked to me as if nothing in the world was likely to give him much pleasure. Franz says it is not so at all

gher, as she asked this very harmless question. Yet she d

eally are. He looked to me generally very grave, almost sad, reserved, and silent, especially during the last weeks. But

s especially shocked at the manner in which he spoke about his position here and his vocation in life. He seemed to look upon everything as mere play. He gave us a sketch of a party to which he had been invited at Mr. Clemens's house, and poured a perfect flood of irony and sarcasm on the poor people. He described his solemn installation at the college, which had taken place that morning, and represented the whole as a scene in a puppet-show. Franz

d have changed very

een carried away by the secret antipathy she felt in her heart against Stein, and perhaps still m

ression. I shall probably think differently about him when I see him more frequently. Franz is so very fond of him, and, you know, we

id Helen,

forgotten it. Though

t is

er. And Franz went directly after dinner to see a patient of father's in t

ng to the window to look at her watch. "It is

there came a kn

ies unisono, trembling like a couple o

her

ed Helen, who seemed to hav

What else can we do?" replied Sophi

cognize the ladies in the half-dark room; he rem

's hands. "I must ask your pardon for receiving y

had bowed to the ladies. Evidently he had not yet recog

I fear I have interrupted the ladies.

d whose outline he had so often admired almost reverently, could belong to no one but Helen ... He hardly heard Sophie say "You do not recognize Fr?ulein von Grenwitz; I will go myse

ness. Helen trembled so violently that she could no

Oswald, get up! I

oment Sophie returned, followed

, under the pretext that the sudden light was dazzling her eyes, and

other moment of the enjoyment of a friendl

o them? You ought rather to sit down and do credit to Franz, who calls you the most entertaining companion he knows

en he heard that Helen possibly might not stay, he contented

turning round from the window, "b

ht have noticed in the deeper red of her cheeks the last trace of past emotion

ments longer, saw the piano open, and music lying upon the desk. He t

if you have a minute to spare, sing thi

really very fine, and Fr?ulein von Grenwitz sin

re, for granted, she had placed the music on the stand, taken her seat on the edge of the piano-stoo

to step up to the piano, although she felt at that moment little disposed to sing, since her young,

his eyes fixed immovably on the two slender forms. And, indeed, the sight was su

looking up as if she was following the escaping sounds in the air, would have been ample compensation for him who finds the greatest beauty in the most spiritual expression. As a favorable glance of sunlight may often pour over a landscape, which has no charms of its own, a marvellous beauty, so the noble, art-loving soul of the girl lighted up and made brilliant her face, which was far from being really beautiful. There was something of Beethoven's nature in it--the meteoric light which the freed spirit of man casts

naccustomed surroundings, partly to the attractive form of Sophie, which interrupted him in his devotion. He did not know that since he had seen Helen last, the mirror of his soul had become dim, and was no longer able to reflect a pure image purely. In vain he tried to catch a glance from Helen. If So

se a servant from the institute was waiting outside, was just considering how he should manage to ask her permission to see her home, when Sophie's question: "but you cannot go home alone?" relieved him

eck, "that your voice may not come to harm, Helen!" and Oswald was standing, hat in hand, by

ein's presence when he heard Sophie's greeting: "How do you do, Bemperly?" and t

s. Their whole welcome consisted in a formal bow and a few indifferent phrases, so that Sophie, who had thought Oswald and Bemperlein were intimate friends, was not a little surprised and did not exactly know what she ought to do in such an unforeseen case. However, the embarrassing situation was not to last long; for Sophie had scarcely introduced Mr. Bemper

en and Oswald found themselv

all we go?"

there was b

arts. It is nearer and more pleasant wa

ou li

take my

with the girl he loved through the dark night. The way he had proposed was not only much longer, but also much darker. It led between the

t the damp gate in the city wall, where the last lamp was bur

unt; I like it

your cloak; the wind is blowing very keen f

hich the walk was covered, rustled under their feet; plaintive sounds were hea

ow in the Grenwitz

inking of it,"

ld be there a

uld you

the wall above, and talk with the slender crescent of the moon, as it dances in the clouds, and with the night-wind as

ke to think

I know nothing more of them. I feel as if I had lived then for the first and last time of my life, and as if I had since died together with the flowers in the garden and with t

eed!" whis

heat and the stifling dust of noon. He needed not cover himself shuddering against the sharp evening wind; he did not see the beautiful, gay world sink into weird darkness. Pardon me, I pray, Miss Helen; this is the second time to-nigh

too?" said Helen, an

d and marvellously lovely as he was, and when he loved you so! loved you inexpressibly! Oh, Miss Helen, do you real

said Helen,

s side. I was not able to fulfil his wish. You know that I left the castle the next morning, not knowing whether I should ever put my foot inside again, whether I should be allowed to watch over my departed darling till his last moment. I could not be

g poplar-trees. Oswald tried to read Helen's face by the uncertain light of the moon, which was just peeping out from behin

llion very d

you a

e; not ungrateful for love and friendship. Keep the

is your hair, Miss Helen;

--of

which was resting on his ar

e nothing to deserve so great a favor; but then, on the

, as I ought to thank you, and yet am not able to do. You have always been very kind to me

at the peril of my life. But here we are

N

l garden up to the house-d

see you

n to Docto

s unlocked

d-ni

d-ni

hand and pressed it pa

oor o

time!" whis

tone. Oswald thought she mentioned his name also.

ns altogether joyous. Pure, chaste joy could no longer enter his heart--as

diately in front of me door, another carriage was driving up. The driver checked the fiery horses too violently, and the servant, who was just jumping down from the box, was thrown violently upon the ground. He gathered himself up immediately, but the pain was probably too great--he remained immovable, as if stu

ightly upon the lady and Oswald, and the former uttered a cry,

-was it love or was it hatred, who knows? Her lips tr

came limping up, hat i

me, my l

showed an ir

," he said, offering his han

der fingers grasping

t gray eyes had flamed up with love, and not with hatred. "Many than

eached the

ld b

hall see

ill

teps, past the lame servant, who was still rubbing his k

von Cloten! And merely because I would have it so! And

PTE

streets, proved this sufficiently. At the theatre, the front boxes, which were exclusively reserved for the nobility, now overflowed every night. The good citizens of Grunwald were often frightened out of their first sleep by the noise of furiously-driven carriages, and twelve hours afterwards the same carriages came thundering back again through the street

irst they had given this season. As the local etiquette required that the invited guests should call on their host before the p

t, laid aside their reserve and opened their doors to all comers. So it was to-day. A dozen visitors had been there; another d

astonished at their altered appearance. The old gentleman sank with an air of thorough weariness into his easy-chair, and Anna Maria sat down opposite to him on a sofa, with a face from which all smiles had vanished to give way to clouds of de

as if the cause was a deeper one--as if the recent events had roused the old gentleman from his lethargy, and shown him many things and many persons in a very different light from that in which he had seen them before. He who had formerly hardly taken a glass of water without first consulting his Anna Maria, suddenly began to act for himself, even to think for himself, and to have positive views of his own, which he maintained with that obstinacy and pertinacity which is often observed in weak minds. He had had attacks of this obstinacy in former

n, taking a pinch from his gold snuff-box, closed the top, and then said,

an end; we cannot leave He

ors came--"I am not accustomed to say one thing to-day and another thing to-morrow. Others may think differently a

six weeks," gr

that makes n

am an old man; I

aid so thes

ds of his wife, "it is because I have not had a well day for ten years; and one of these days the morning will

lte in whom all our hopes are centring. You ought to thank God that you have a son who can inherit

ir, but because he is my flesh and blood, whom I can love, as I love my daughter also. As to the esta

remedy seemed this time to have the opposite effect, for he

rit the entail! Why is Felix your special protégé? Because he may possibly inherit the entail! Why must O have

t direction what I think is my duty. If, you have no duties to fulfil to your children, I have. If you are willing to give your daughter to the first adventurer who wants her, or whom she wants--you need not stamp impatiently with your sick foot; and you will spill the snuff on the carpet if you knock your box so violently on the arm of the chair. I say, if it is indifferent to you whom Helen marries, it is not so to me. I have advocated the marriage with Felix, n

erception--not the first of its kind--that his highly moral wife might possibly have a very bad heart, and he sighed. I

ghts, he showed in the first words that fell from him. After a pause,

o her to-morrow when

e baroness, looking up from her work and raising

t before he could find words to express his apprehension, the serv

entered

re the traces of his last fox-hunt. His shoulders and his red beard looked still broader, and his voice was louder and hoarser than usual. Hortense Barnewitz, on the contrary, was a shade paler and lighter than in the summer, and looked a great deal more wear

ising to meet her guests, with the stereotyped graciou

d not come sooner. Arrived yesterday at noon; last night at Grieben's. Pity you were not there; famous, I tell you; had almost as

ing a seat by the baroness on the sofa; "he has lived the l

he gallant husband. "Well, Hortense needn't take

Anna Maria, trying to give a more

he rain will do us some good now. Apropos of rain, Grenwitz! we must settle that question about the ditches, else we shall all of us be drowned one of these days

n interest in farming? That is somet

ast news, ha, ha, ha! since his return from his travels; that

in Melitta," said t

be the same thing,

irical," said the baroness, threatening the sat

Barnewitz. "You have always envied her her b

leaves no means of coquetry unused," said Hortense, dro

te as bad as that,"

ugged her wh

so much ground for gossip in her life tha

case with Baron Oldenbu

e. "I do not know Baron

lled to pull out his handkerchie

on between her words and the violent blowing of her husband's nose; "but, i

Maria, raising her eyebrows; "w

his first cousin, and that he had, as a boy of seventeen, worshipped the

eyes," remarked Hortense, examining atten

aid Anna Maria, sitting down

who were stealing wood at night in the Berkow forest--at least I cannot see how else they could have bee

e a piquant story,

till busy at the ceiling, "is this: that the Heaven knows who always c

wide as they possibly could

taken place?" she asked, with

ade my cousin go to table with Doctor Stein, and carried him afterwards home in his own carriage. It was a touching attention, though not without its comical side in this case; as well as the warmth with which Olde

lence, and apparently with utter indifference. All the more surprising wa

s such, and have had quite recently occasion to see it again in some very important business I had with him.

eep emotion that he could hardly carry the p

y: The old gentleman is not so far out. But Hortense w

in has elsewhere also obtained quite a celebrity in the annals of the past summer. The more frequently it is, there

ion to Helen, since it had never occurred to him in the most remote way that

she was just about to rise in order to take leave when more visitors were announced, which compelled her to stay. No one was to say of Hortense

. She did not wish to miss the beginning of the season. She longed to appear at once on the stage of her future triumphs, in order to prevent any possible competition. Emil

he certainty of victory beamed from her large, almond-shaped gray eyes; the certainty of victory played around her rather large but well-shaped mouth, with its dazzling white teeth; the certainty of victory peeped stealthily from the dimples in h

n the pond in the shape of wild, disrespectful ducklings. Those who had known him before could not help noticing that he twisted his blond moustache less frequently, and that his voice sounded by no means as self-complacent as formerly. Perhaps he was all the more disconcerted as he had unexpectedly and without any desire of his own met his lady-love, whom he had faithlessly and somewhat cowardly abandoned; while on

ver danced. Prince Waldenberg--you know I led the cotillon with Prince Waldenberg; Max Grieben had begged us to do so--knew a number of the newest

ho had been condemned to dance with a poor, hunchbacked co

nse, who looked a few degrees more blasée since Emily had come; "I count

them. I have even danced with one of them--Jones, or Smith, or whatever h

ot have escaped that?" said H

s,' I replied, 'I am no enthusiast about the artillery; but, after all, I

te that the rouge on her cheeks became quite useless. She was just about to commit the folly of betraying by a violent

ons he announced at once into the parlor, but closed the door behind hi

ent, "if I receive the professor and his wife. The good people have always shown themselves loy

oetess making deep bows and courtesies, which were returned with a gentle nod by the noble company. On

e approached with bent back; modesty, it is true, smiled from the unpleasant lines which, marked the large mouth with its low-drawn comers; but they were the humility and the modesty of a cat rubbing her back against the foot of the ladder which leads to the garret where the fat pigeons are cooing. He went up to the baroness,

rg, who had been ordered a few weeks ago from his regiment of the Guards at the Capital to the line regiment which was in garrison

r yesterday--apropos, it is very well, madame, you make him keep his room; he looks really very badly--Fe

s if passion were a crime. I wish some

escent?" asked Hortense. "It seems to

newitz," said Emily; "he is one of the handsome

s are originally a Polish

d Cloten; "pure Germanic,

g more about that," said the baroness, turning

c blood in his veins. His mother, the Princess Stephanie Letbus, of the house of Wartenberg, married in eighteen hundred and twenty-two, in St. Petersburg, where she has lived from her early youth--I mentioned before that part of their possessions are in Russia--a Count Constantin Malikowsky, the last scion of a once very rich and powerful Polish family, who is now, however, quite reduced. The Emperor Alexander, who, as they say, was under obligations to both families" (here the professor ventured upon a stealthy smile to the young princess, who was lady in waiting to the empress and exceedingly beautiful, and to the count whose family had been mainly ruined by Russian confiscations,) "has the credit of having made the match. Such influence was perhaps necessary, because the reputation of the count was--I trust

might listen to the report of an owl about the descent of a rare raven who measures four yards from tip to tip. The devout silence was s

before their chairs, anxiously looking at the door, through whose wide-open frame the prince was entering so quickly that

the hand of the baroness, "to anticipate my wishes by your invitation, before I had an opportu

gret exceedingly that, rarely as we are from home, an unfortunate accident should have caused us the other day to be absent just when you thought o

he honor," said t

a friend of our house; Mrs. Jager, a lady wh

ed, which made quite a sensation--with the same dignity and courtesy, and gave

r the size of the head. The features of the face corresponded with the whole. The brow was low and straight, the eyes of bright darkness but small, and apparently still further reduced in size by the heavy eyelids with their dark lashes. The nose as well as the thick lips were somewhat protruding. A beard, thicker and blacker than the hair on the head, covered the cheeks and the upper lip. The chin alone, shaved smooth, in military style, was the energetic base of this energetic face. Taken all in all, the assertion made by Hortense that the prince looked like a Mongolian agreed as little wi

t--a small cross set in diamonds, probably Russian; and the order of the Blue Falcon of the second class, with c

id not dare to rise from their seats and to go away. The prince and the baroness at first kept up the conversation alone, until Hortense succeeded in wedging in a casual remark, expressed in excellent French, and thus to obtain the word to the great annoyance of Emily, who had to leave her adversary in the undisturbed enjoyment of this triumph, as she spoke French but imperfectly, and was hardly able to follow the rapid utterance of her rival. Hortense, who knew Emily's weak point, carried her malice so far as to turn round to her continually with a "

it only when one of her favorite dolls and she had occasionally, for the sake of variety, one that she overwhelmed with caresses and kisses--was not willing to be tender to her and to return her affection. Oswald had been such a favorite, but cold, desperately cold doll for her. She might have married him and become his faithful wife if he had belonged to the same circles in which she lived--at least her fancy represented it to her as possible in dreamy hours--but now she was Baroness Cloten, and th

inquire of Primula about "that young man who was tutor at Grenwitz last summer--Fels, I think, or Rock, or Stein, or whatever his name was--since a friend of hers was in need of a teacher." Emily was not mistaken; Primula could give her all information about Mr. Stein--"not Fels, although he has a heart like the poet's hero, Felsenfest; not Rock, although he towers like a rock above all men"--as

He might reject the offer at once, if it came to him in that way. Could you not--how shall we manage it?--yes! that's the way! Could you not arrange it so, my dear Mrs. Jager

distribution of the gifts of the earth: if you really wish to enter my lowly hut, as

it me exactly

n that her husband had to remind her of the intended breaking up of t

ellously beautiful girl who had suddenly entered the room without being announced by the servant. He turned round almost frightened

weeks with great zeal and vast ingenuity in all directions, and as Helen had thus been the common topic of conversation, this first meeting of mother and daughter was therefore to them all a most attractive scene. But if they had expected anything extraordinary they were doomed to disappointment. Th

very lightly. "You come just in time. Permit me, mon prince, to present my daughter, Helen--His Highness,

urned to Emily Cloten, who welcomed her most heartily. Emily's sharp eyes had not failed to observe the impression which

you for an instant! If you want him, I'll let you have him. He dances beautifully, but he is not my genre. Encourage him a little; it annoys the Barnewitz fearfully. Just think, the old coquette still wants to play her part, although she has now to paint even her veins blue, and last night remained twice without a partner! How do you like

one could easily see his thoughts were elsewhere. Suddenly he interrupted a brilliant sentence of Anna Maria's by asking whether there would be dancing to-morrow, and whether he mig

ing conversation; but I cannot leave without having made an effort to secure

t, and his highness left with a haste which clearly showed that nothi

een waiting for it to go likewise, to the great satisfaction of coachmen an

as not done. The old gentleman felt too tired, and Anna Maria began to look in an entirely new light upon the question whether Helen should remain at the boarding-school or not? For about ten minutes ago the thought had suddenly

TER

the debts of the privy councillor would not be so overwhelming, if it should be feasible to collect the sums which were due him on all sides. But this was in most cases highly improbable. The debtors of the privy councillor generally lived in garrets and cellars; they were the lame and the crippled, the infirm and the invalid, often widows and orphans, as often also unworthy people, who had wretchedly abused the well-known liberality of the privy councillor. What enormous and, alas! what useless efforts this man had made to fill the Danaids' tub of the poor! with what zeal he had made himself poor in order to overcome the poverty around him, lik

cy in his peculiar relations to his father-in-law, which called upon him continually to encourage, to appease, and to persuade. "I should not hesitate a moment," he would say, "to jump after you into the water, if I saw you were in danger of drowning, and you and everybody who should see it would think it perfectly natural. Now you are in a danger which to many people appears

tion that--thanks to the able and energetic help of his son-in-law--no dishonor could be attached to his name, even if he were to die now, than he laid aside all thoughts of death and determined to get well as soon as he could. "Not quite well," he said, "for that I can never be again; but half well, or two-t

s sacrifice had a

continued the letter, "while thanking you in the name of science for your book, I beg leave at the same time to make you a proposition, which I hope you will consider promptly and seriously. Next Easter the place of first assistant in the great hospital here will be vacant. I know among our younger men of eminence none to whom I would entrust this place as readily as to you." The great man then spoke at length of the advantages which Franz would secure by accepting this po

some years to come, but, on the contrary, to require at least a small independent fortune, which Franz did no longer possess. He had placed himself by his generosity in the disagreeable position to have to move into a new house before it is finished or dry--an embarrassment in which many honest men find themselves; or, to speak more clearly, to ha

ream, so brig

love are no

d his hopes for the sake of those he loved, and his only great care was now to ke

her trousseau, and complained to Franz of the confusion which the care for so many and so varied things produced in her head. How much would a knowledge of the transactions that took place between Franz and her father have interfered with the happiness which she enjoyed in these days, as she labored to build her little nest like a merry bird full of song and playful flutterings, if she had known that the money with which she paid he

he called himself, Bemperlein, alias Bemperly, did not show himself nowadays, and Sophie had at last deemed it her duty to inquire for him at his lodging, thinking that he might be sick, and that Franz had kept it secret from her so as to cause her no apprehension. But she found the old student in his laboratory, in the midst of phials, retorts, boxes, and instruments--looking, if not like Faust, at least like Faust's famulus--a

t which hung over Bemperlein's honest face, while he blamed the troublesome analysis. As the young lady was slowly walking homeward, and thought what might be t

entleman, lifting hi

He had evidently no

eave with Helen; that the meeting of the two gentlemen had been very cold, strangely cold, and that Bemperlein had given evasive answers to all their questions about the relations in

ations to Oswald, she could of course hardly expe

ad seen the life and happiness of those he loved best in his hand without fear, and he had overcome all his apprehensions about a union formed so suddenly and resting on the unsafe basis of entirely different social positions. He had said to himself, "All this is idle nonsense in comparison with the i

had known Fran von Berkow for seven years; he knew that her heart was true and good. Bemperlein had known Oswald for as many weeks, and he thou

our dreams a fearful monster drags itself towards us and we try in vain to es

mained behind to arrange Julius's things, and to execute some other commissions. Bemperlein had never spoken to the old man about Oswald. This time the latter began himself He told him that Oswald had been at Fichtenau when they were there, that he had learnt from the waiter that his mistress was at the hotel, but

; and she had always confessed to him on all such occasions, not entirely and not by halves, but sufficiently full for him, who knew her as well as his own hand. And then he had had a great desire to shoot the fine gentleman who had played his mistress such a mean trick, like a mad dog; and little had been wanting one night on the heath between Grenwitz and Fashwitz. But now he thanked God that

ffected Bemperlein; and what impression it must have made upon him, when he came, quite full

his fright; and that he would perhaps never have recovered entirely if Sophie had not come and made an end to his indecision. Poor Bemperlein

peated question: "But there will be no other visitor to-night?" and she naturally connected these questions with her suspicions about the causes of Bemperlein's absence.

have not been here for a whole week, that

erlein, pausing in his oc

perly! It does not pay to attempt keeping secrets in your in

emperlein, in great excitement,

like the man in Shakespeare. Compose yourself, I pray you! I know nothing at all. But you would really do me a favor, if--pray sit down again and put the pok

ate friends--and there is no one in the wide world I would trust rather than you--because our secrets

to pry into your secrets! I am neither so impertinent nor so

of it! You do not know how I have longed to talk with

duously than ever. Sophie shook her head as she watched his doing so. It occurred to her that Bemperlein mig

of a sudden, "you were quite right. I stayed away

you and Oswald Stein had been very

would like to tell you. Would you be friends with somebody, or rather would you not try in every

rties? As for myself, I am not so enchanted with Mr. Stein; or, to tell the truth, I dislike him the more the oftener I see him; but

very relative idea, and what I call acting badly, Mr. Stein calls, perhaps, only acting thou

himself, and poked more viol

t girl, without parents, without friends, who has not a soul in this wide, wide world to protect her, who has believed his

s sake, Oswald su

re cavaliers of the sort in this world, and they look as muc

can really stand it no longer. Take this cushion,

, and seizing the cushion; and then, holding it l

mperlein suddenly jumped up, let the cushion in his arm fall on the ground, knelt down on it with both knees, seized

exclaimed the young lady, "get

tell you; and I cannot tell you if you look at me

r Bemperlein's sake she could have cried; but for her own person, she could hardly help laughing aloud.

I have told myself so a hundred

dually became too strong, "how can you, Franz's best friend, and--at le

th great animation. "Love and friendship shall both find room in my heart; they

ty Platonic love to lie on your knees like a Don Carlos

te.' I feel, now that I have spoken--that I have spoken to you--the courage to tell i

ou kn

ke a flag in the air; "you will be a friend and a sister to the poor girl; you will do it for my sake, because I love

o you mean,

enly, half frightened; and then he added in a very low

riend of another great folly! And yet she was not quite free from a little disappointment that she was not the exclusive idol of Bemperlein! Such a feeling could of course only pass for an instant through Sophie's heart as a light breeze

est, unsuspecting man, who in spite of his thirty years was utterly inexperienced, might have fallen into the net of a coquette; and this fear was all the more serious a

an, do you know that she is a good girl; that she has a good

cried Bemperlein, mo

ay, that I am

t privilege I am not willing to give up yet--I have the right and

assure you my Marg

angelic character of your Marguerite? I mean of that angelic nature which is perceptible to other mortals also? Come, sit down here by me qui

full of sympathy and kindness, that Bemperlein was not in the least afraid now to let the dear girl look into t

ave, and who has had to struggle hard with cares and troubles, learns to understand thoroughly what it means to be helpless and forsaken. You will understand, therefore, what I mean, when I say that such a man, when he sees others suffer, feels and thinks very differently from those who have never been in such a position. That was the reason why I could not get rid of the sight of the poor, forsaken girl in tears. I saw her continually before me as she was st

llege, for reasons which she mentioned, but which were so foolish that I will not repeat them here; but she was as little inclined to try another tutor after the sad experiences which she had made. The lady, therefore, decided to have him taught at home by private tutors, who must, of course, be tried men of well-known principles, and--now we came to the point--would I whom she esteemed most highly, aid her in her work, and give her son, daily, one or two lessons in ancient languages!

ou have, after all, more talent for a li

a French woman in the house, because she had little confidence in mademoiselle's grammatical knowledge. I said at once--I do not know yet how I gathered courage to do so--that I was sure mademoiselle would very quickly learn grammar, and be able to teach it

e that interview

interview, and of another which I had had on my return home with--with--I must not

darkened once more, and he t

ut of his hand, placed i

long. Does the other interview with the great u

y best accent: 'Ah, bon jour, Mademoiselle, comment vous portez-vous!' As I repeated the question a third time--and this time to my complete satisfaction--the lady came into the room, a book in her hand, and I was so much confused by the fear she might have seen me before the mirror that I blushed all over, and stammered something, which might possibly have been French, but which certainly was very foolish, for Mademoiselle Marguerite smiled and said something of bonté and enseigner. Next I only know that we were sitting opposite each other, and that we were turning over the leaves without saying a word--what else can I tell you, Miss Sophie? What is best and most necessary I can, after all, not tell you. I have been with Marguerite now for a week daily, quite alone, during a whole hour. We have not stud

nd and said, "Good Bemperly!" Bemperlein returned the pressure warmly, and

most egregiously, and who wished to hand her over to a notorious scapegrace. But that is such a mean, low story that I would rather not speak of it, even if I had not promised Margu

even Bemperlein's account was not calculated to remove her prejudice completely. She was pained to have to hurt the feelings of the poor man, whose kind face was turned towards her with an excited, anxious expressi

ls into the danger of committing such an error, just as the most trustful people are always the readiest to take false money instead of good money. I, for instance, never failed to find a false coin in my purse upon returning from market, if there was a false piece in the whole crowd. Now, there is no sensation

this long exposition. He had expected a very different welc

hy from love? Is not the love of our neighbor, t

st feel if we wish to marry somebody--the love, for instance, which I feel for Franz, and which Franz feels for me

mperlein, desperately. "How can

ways simply wished to transfer Miss Marguerite from her dependent position to a better one, to

sopher hesitat

ed Bemperle

ermined to clear the matter up, even a

lein, triumphantly, "I can an

! And have you g

N

nfessed your

N

, then, that she

't kno

these negations was so comical that

e cried, "how will

" replied Bemper

! And if s

tiful if she should become my wife and I could work for her, and I could love her and she should love me back again! For I must love somebody with my whole heart, and I

d. The passionate feeling of Bemperlein had touched a sympathetic chord in her heart. She felt sudde

said, very decidedly. "We can soo

breathed fr

I, re

he will come soon enough; and if we once have her here, the rest will follow of course. Yes, yes," continued the young lady, clapping her hands with delight, "that is the way! that is the way! And when we

PTE

rous, had thoroughly undermined his whole system, already weakened by a wild, profligate life, just as a house in which the timber is affected with dry rot will be in danger of tumbling down at any time, if but one of the joists be removed. The ball had not injured any of the vital parts, and he had had the best of medical

ntly before. That little fever?--ridiculous; I have felt worse many a morning after a wild night. My lungs?--nonsense!

s as this experienced man soon discovered that "Mamselle" had carried on a love affair with Mr. Surveyor Timm while the masters were at the watering place. Timm thought about women just as he did himself, as Felix knew perfectly well; he had therefore won the game even before beginning it. Could Felix Grenwitz fail where Albert Timm had succeeded? Nevertheless, there was another item in the bill which he had overlooked, and the Don Giovanni was not a little surprised, therefore, when he failed after all. Little Marguerite had a soft heart, thirsting after love, and she had so small a share of love alloted her in life! Hence Albert Timm had been able to overcome the heart of the girl, but not her virtue. For little Marguerite was proud--proud as poor beings are who have been enslaved and ill-treated from childhood up without losing their native nobility, and whose only defence against the contempt of the world lies in their self-respect. She would have sacrificed for her lover the whole of her hard-earned little fortune, but nothing else. If Albert could not succeed who really loved her, Felix must of course fail, for she detested him. And yet he was not fastidious in the means he employed. He presented Albert to her in the darkest colors; he laughed at the poor

e wounds, but half healed, opened once more; a slow fever undermined his nervous system by day and by night, and he had hardly fallen asleep when a hacking cough waked him from dreams so fearful that even sleeplessness seemed a benefit in comparison. The anxiety about his health was increased by other cares which he had formerly treated very lightly, but which now had a sad effect upon his hypochondriac tem

the one nor the other, had no prospect of becoming such, and could therefore not be very much astonished if the baroness was less gracious every time she met one of these suspicious personages. It had been different a few weeks ago, when the sun of his invincible power of charming

matters to a crisis in her conflict with Albert Timm, and Felix was by no means quite sure whether even this fear was likely to induce her to assent to the

ersonal wants. It would be time enough hereafter to enlighten her on the subject of Timm's demand. Felix hated Oswald intensely, and it would have been intolerable to him to see the hated man ob

. Felix was wrapped up in a large dressing gown, and sat shivering close to the stove. His big eyes, once so supercilious, and now glassy and staring, and the sickly, well-defined red spot on his lean cheeks, bor

iol all the way down to my room here: brm! brm! brm! until it nearly made me crazy; and if you had not cured me of cur

-chair before the patient, and took out some work as an evidence that she intended to pay a long visit. "But ser

igiously gracious

d Anna Maria; "only there are peopl

ne of them,

ill acknowledge that I have always d

ion to his aunt a little affair in which he was involved--now nearly three months--with a certai

ed to enjoy themselves very much," continued the baroness, "and I was heartily sorry th

his arm-chair, "I am turning a perfect hypochondriac in this

o not like very large parties: Grie

s," said Felix. "Did not Hortense and

rday they had no reason to dispute each other the palm, as that had

nd who was thi

tches in her work; "she looked really magnificent last night.

len praised by her mother was such a n

ppy effect upon her. She has eight, nine, ten--lost a good deal of her haughtin

able change. I wish it had taken place a few weeks before. Perhaps I should then not be lying here helple

ess; "but hatred and revenge are very unchristian feelings, especi

Our whole plan was built upon that supposition. What a pity, though, that

ht me here so early in the morning. The state of your health, dear Felix, causes me such great concern that I have been th

strenuously, because neither Felix, as she thought, nor she herself could at that moment afford to provide the necessary means. All of a sudden these means were f

in which but one thought remained uppermost--the desire to be well again at any cost. For this great purpose any means were welcome. If his aunt was willing to furnish the means for his travels, which he knew were indispensable for his recovery, well!--and all the better, the more she gave!

, to start in a few days. "You know, dear Felix," said Anna Maria, "I am in favor of doing promptly what has to be done. And here there is danger in

and, and Felix kissed it reverent

beral? How lucky I did not tell her how much that rascal Timm is asking for! She will have to hear it one of these days; but no

is hard that I have to go to such fearful expense after having paid so much for him already. But it cannot be

as the cool reserve with which that grand seigneur generally received all the homage offered him by the provincial nobility had already become proverbial. What was poor Felix in comparison with this proud eagle? A poor crow, plucked bare by misfortune and countless creditors. And especially now since the physicians began to shake their heads ominously, and when the baroness asked them upon their consciences, answered: they would give the young baron six months, unless a miracle took place! What was Felix when he ceased to be the presumptive heir to the entailed estates? Nothing!--less than nothing; a very expensive pensioner on the bounty of the family, whose only merit was that he would in all probability not draw that pension long! No, no! That sun had set in mist and fogs; now a more brilliant, a more

with the beauty which it served to bring out more strikingly, that feature which had evidently decided the prince to give the preference to her daughter over other young ladies like that very beautiful but blond and sentimental Miss Nadelitz, and even over pretty, coquettish Emily Cloten, and

th she would see if she could not succeed better with love and kindness; and how could she better prove this love and kindness than by recalling the disobedient and yet cherished child from her banishment back again (if only Fe

or from the public park which adjoined the garden--and there was really a young man leaning against the trunk of a beech-tree whose eyes were incessantly directed through the dense darkness towards the lighted wind

eagerly, with burning cheeks, as young ladies who have no c

nt--so very different! My heart is a storm-tossed ocean, and the images of life tremble in it, changing and restless, and troubling me like so many spectres. On the surface, to be sure--well, there all is apparently calm; at least people say so, and I feel so; but down below!--there it seethes and boils; there are wishes growing up which I dare scarcely confess to myself; there thoughts are rising that frighten me; there a longing is forever blooming--a longing of which I have often told you, and alas! never in words equal to what I really feel, and which you always sent back into the realm of dreams. Is it possible that you were right? that the passion which is glowing within

ps trembling with the question: What is the matter, dearest? Oh, dearest darli

on on the way which affected me deeply, as it turned on Bruno, and I had, at last, an opportunity of thanking Mr. S., as I had so long desired to do. I was deeply moved when he took leave of me at the door. The charm which this man has always had for me

rength! Far from it. He does not resemble the ideal which I bear in my heart of the hero whom I might love; but there is something in the tone of his voice, in the glance of his large blue eyes, in his whole manner, which touches me unspeakably. And then--I mean to be candid with you--I know that he loves me, and, as it cannot be otherwise under the circumstances, loves me without hope, and that makes him dear to me, like the dagger with the bright Damascus blade and the golden handle which I, a girl of twelve, found in the armory at Grenwitz, and which

to myself: a slight pressure and you are no more! And there is danger in the presence of this man; a word from him, and he has ceased to l

he bare branches of the mighty beech-trees; the sea roared grandly. Beneath my feet the dry leaves were rustling; overhead two crows were cawing, unable to find rest on the storm-tossed branches. I wrapped myself closer in my shawl and went on. The darkness was coming on apace, and the cool, damp breath of the woods and the sea brought their old charm to bear upon me, as I had felt it so often in early childhood. I felt no fear; the happiness to be for once perfectly alone with myself and my thoughts--alone amid such surroundings, which entirely harmonized with my state of mind--did not allow such feelings to rise in me. I went on and on, as in a dream, till I came to the end of the avenue. There a small open square, almost entirely overshadowed by tall trees, looks in one direction towar

uite near by. I rose from my stooping pos

ms; but the accident which made me find you here at this hour is to

n meeting--and I suddenly saw how very improper

ly an accident only which procures me at

ped back

he said, 'I did not know y

d, and w

art. When he was a few yards off, I could not bear it any long

pardon. I was frightened I di

hich has made us meet here. At least not on my side. I saw you enter

?' I inquired, as we began t

y find in darkness and solitude

o reject his love, if he should begin to speak of love; and still I wished him to speak; I was angry because he did not speak. The few seconds seemed to be an eternity--an eternity of fear and hope. We were standing at the gate. Oswald opened it. I thanked him, and wished him good-night. He only answered by a silent bow. When the gate fell behind me into the latch I started like a prisoner who hears close behind him the

me, when I hold it in my hand, the equal of any adversary, even of my mother! I thought with trembling of the moment when I should feel humiliated before myself after having humiliat

tly-lighted interior of a church which was full of people. The eyes of all these people were fixed upon me. Then it was suddenly no longer my mother who held my hand, but a tall, strange man in a uniform dazzling with gold and diamonds. I could not see his face, for he held it always aside. Thus we approached the altar; a priest was standing on the steps. The organ sounded, and song filled the high vaults. Above the priest hung a large wooden crucifix, such as we have hanging in the chapel at Grenwitz, which always filled me with horror when I was a child. The same horror overcame me now; for while the priest was speaking, the image was continually shaking its head; and when I examined it more accurately it bore Oswald's features, but disf

I could now, when I was calm again, readily explain how the dream had come about. The night before I had seen Oswald take leave of me, suffering greatly; on this very day I was to meet my mothe

or the next night. Soon afterwards the visitors left, and I also. Emily Cloten--I have often written to you about her--congratulated me, as she drove me back to my boarding-school in her carriage, on my 'conquest.' I told her I had no fondness for conquests which were so easily made. 'Chacun a son go?t,' she answered, laughing. 'I, for my part, thi

n the humor in which I was I liked the idea of measuring my pride against the pride of another. Had I not sworn never again to admit s

tended a genuine reconciliation. She kissed my forehead, took me by the hand and led me to the ladies, who likewise overwhelmed me with civility. It looked as if the wh

ich I could move freely, that this was the only air I could breathe with comfort; in fine, that I was born to rule and not to serve. It seemed to me all of a sudden not so very difficult after all to keep t

arquises; and while the prince's black eyes, however far he was from me, were all the time looking at me, I was thinking of you, whether I would see an encouraging smile in your eyes if you were here, and you would say, 'He is worthy of you!' I hoped you would, for the appearance and the manner of the prince is as lofty as his rank. I noticed with heartfelt shame how sorry our own young men looked by his side, and how they all tried in vain to copy his way of walking and his carriage. He spoke several times very eagerly with me. One of his sayings I remember, because it came from my own heart. I asked him why he, who has thousands and thousands of s

kind, paid me many compliments about my conduct last night, and expressed her desire to have me back again at the house, just as my father also wishes it. However, she left it entirely to me, whether

ays for Italy. I shall of course not expec

y, she has at least found the right way to my heart. I

full strength. The tormenting conflict between love and ambition, the desire to read clearly her own heart, had put the pen into he

under of the ocean as it dashed against the shore. This music recalled to her the earliest recollections of her childhood, and with them very different sensations from those of which she had been writing. Suddenly she started and listened breathlessly

alas! so fa

my dreams

angel-like

pain and gr

one, they a

y will be pa

in and silenced the voice; then

one, they ar

y will be pa

she felt as if his eyes--his blue dreamy eyes--were resting on her. She dared not move, she hardly

e still red, But soon th

was saying the blessing; and she thought of the dagger which had been thrust into his side up to the golden h

PTE

e work had not been easy. He had been forced to use all his ingenuity and all his inventive power, and finally, when the decisive moment occurred in the interview with Felix and the baroness, all his coolness and boldness. But the venture had succeeded. The captured quarry was struggling in the meshes, and the excellent huntsman rejoiced at it. No sportsman could blame him for his joy. No

of the story. Or was it perhaps not odd at all, that the man whose the booty legally was, not only never suspected it, but actually had been good-natured and stupid enough to become the intimate friend of the poacher. Not odd at all that Albert Timm, feeling the first four hundred dollars, hard-earned money, in his pocket, and sitting in the city cellar of Grunwald to drink his own health and a happy issu

ase to be the friend of this disinherited knight. If the Grenwitz keep their word and pay punctually--good; then it is a beautiful evidence of your good heart, to let part of the abundance drop into the lap of the knight who has unconsciously procured it for you. If Anna Maria (he

t take up one of these odd notions at the very moment when he ought to have acted promptly? It is true he found Oswald greatly changed since he had seen him last. He seemed to have laid aside his dreamy sentimentality, and to be filled with a concealed restlessness, which broke forth now in extravagant merriment, and now in savage, ironical bitterness. But who can ever judge rightly of problematic characters? A remnant of the old ideology was no doubt still there, and that had first to be driven out thoroughly. Faust, just escaped from his cell, must find it impossible to return; he must be taught to relish gay life; and how could he have found a better teacher in this noble art than in the past grand master of all merry fellows, the invincible Albert Timm, whose very sight was a laughing protest against all old fogyism. And then there was a will-o'-

her himself, irrevocably lost the better part of his self-respect. It did not avail him that he charged all the blame of the rupture with Melitta upon her, that he called her a heartless coquette, who had betrayed him disgracefully, and who now laughed at the poor victim (how many were there in all?) in the arms of her lover. There was

heart like the moon in a dark night during the time of his love for Melitta. There was in this love muc

hideous Yahoos, could not feel a greater aversion for them than Oswald did for those people with whom his position brought him in daily contact. And these Yahoos were exceedingly obliging and familiar; they seemed to have no suspicion of their ugliness; they overwhelmed the new comer with all possible kindnesses; they invited him again and again to evenings at whist, and evenings at tenpins, ?sthetic teas, and dramatic readings! They did not seem to mind at all his reserve, his chilling coldness; on the contrary, they saw in it the awkwardness of a young man who has not moved much in good company, and must be encouraged. Even the ladies seemed to be full of this notion, especially Mrs. Rector Clemens, who declared openly her intention

milar little speeches, and only saw the ridiculous form, at which he laughed m

he had an older and better right to humanize the young scapegrace, and who was the less willing to yield

e authoress of t

d her contempt for the people who had treated her with such indignity remained the same. She declared that an unexpected meeting with Mrs. Rector Clemens might have the most disastrous consequences for her health. She carried, even at first, the precaution so far that she never went out without sen

should contain, under Primula's direction, all the intelligence of Grunwald, and eclipse the club of the schoolmasters as completely as the moon eclipses a fixed star of first magnitude. To preside over such a club at Grunwald had long been Primula's favorite dream when she was still wandering in the evening twilight by the side of the Fragmentist through the fields of Fashwitz, winding a wreath of blue cyanes for herself in sweet anticipation of the triumphs which she was to celebrate hereafter. She had thought this dream nea

e hail, to t

our darkn

ess of l

ereafter

eny this pr

or of 'Cor

h the authoress had hersel

hat she found dead by the wayside, and to the May-bug that lay on its back, in a dramatic club? A lyric club it ought to be; and to establish such a lyric club in open and explicit opposition to the dramatic club at Rector Clemens's house was t

mbition, and whose vanity had been most deeply offended by the con

ald society, which he had only seen at a distance when he was a poor student there. His wife, on the other hand, a native of the town, the seventh daughter of Superintendent Doctor Darkling, knew of course the society well; but the society knew her also as a bugbear of fright and disgust, on account of her eccentricities, long before Jager, then a candidate for holy orders, had courte

nder," and Oswald had accepted the invitation in a fit of malicious curiosity. He had vied during the visit with the professor and the professor's wife in sarcasm against the pedagogues and their wives, and had at last, when Primula revealed to him her plan of a club, ente

ald carefully kept, and then read at night, of course without mentioning names, in the city cellar before the "Rats' Nest." This was the name of a secret society which held every evening it

mportance, for Lebrecht, a pale young man of fifteen years, who had been a charity boy a few months before, and still looked more than half-starved, remained standing near the door and said, with his hollow, orphan-hou

LE FLYING THRO

ud youn

he stay

y crows

ife's o

I love

brown eag

dear nob

blue ey

t what

ious co

thy eyes

fore'er

he stars

es naug

poor P

t to him

e expected to such nonsense, until he discovered far down in the corner a microscopic "

e society) who has very distinctly intimated her desire to meet you at my house, and who has something to communicate to you which may possibly be decisive for your future happiness. It is tr

rvant, P

does not dare? He threw with rapid pen a few lines on the paper and gave it to Lebrecht, with the direction to be sure and not

e the pupils disliked him particularly on account of his partiality. There was no lack, therefore, of annoyances and tricks, especially as their young teacher seemed to be in worse humor than

llent man very little; he had hardly been two or three times at Doctor Roban's house, and generally with a hope of not finding Franz there. He knew that such conduct towards a man to whom he was

her side of the street and cordially shaking hands with him.

"but what little I have to do

w s

spoils my temper for the other twenty-three hours of t

is a great thing; and then, pray, consider, every profession requires self-denial and sacrifices, even the sweeper's p

use of his patient,

his vocation. There is nothing more intensely disagreeable than to be lectured in such general phrases,

in the house of the sexton, Toby Goodheart, a man who stood in the odor of very special sanctity, so that nobody could comprehend why t

agrance of a fine Havana cigar filled the room which formed

e on my sofa with a good cigar between my teeth. Isn't he a famous fellow? I always think of him as a small man with a bald head, a promise of a paunch, bright black eyes and large kissable lips, who lounges, his hands crossed behind him, through the streets o

r think

voice. What is the matter now

etched c

it to the Evil One, w

,' as the tailor tol

M. de Talleyrand replied; at least

llars; when they are at an end--and that may be very

like you, who has a thousan

insta

little Grenwitz, who seems to m

asier said

if you take th

hich i

you the girl, whethe

u mean by y

hard of compre

d was absorbed in thought. He considered whether he ought to confide to Timm the secret of the rende

ula to-day; I should like to see if

st in admiration of a huge blue r

ung eagle, and the mysterious postscr

derstands so little of the great art of seizing fortune by the hem of her garment. In good earnest, Oswald, the cards have been dealt so well for you, it could not be better. Of course, it will not be quite so easy to t

se

glass of wine. Charles the Bald has an excellent hock, and you must drink of that bravely, so that you may

PTE

" of which the following notice had appeared three times already: "P. V. in Gr. Great and gifted friend:--We await the promised MS. impatiently." There it was now, the promised MS., written with the heart's blood of the poetess! She had but just placed the last dot over the last i, and already it was t

e door is open below ... A deep male voice ... It

le and pushed the fair curls from her blushing face, seized a pen and began althou

" asked the deep voi

ess, casting away the pen; "is it you, O

to tell me in the most charming

ses which I have written this evening with glowing brow and beating heart, thinking of no one but y

who i

. Listen! What do you think of this original metre, which seems to

The sound seemed to be but a signal for the poetess to read with double and treble rapidity, while she laid her hand upon her hearer's arm, as if to prevent him from escaping. There were only about t

ung lady, with a half shy and half bold gl

few stanzas of a poem. Why, it is nearly half-past seven, and the papers must be at the post-office by eight! Dear Baroness Cloten, dear Mr. S

ext room, whispering at the same time to Oswald: "What a pity! O

astonishment at this strange and unexpected solution of the mystery, and Emily also silent and embarrassed in spite of her boldness and cleverness, but only for

it an accident which has

plied Oswald, unconsciously assumin

ger has not t

ha

uld accept a place in the house of some friends of mine; of

mily, whose enchanting, coquettish beauty reminded him so forcibly of some of the most delightful and yet most painful scenes in the confused drama of his life--Emily, whom he had intended to meet with a tragic resolve of resignation! And now he w

t child who cannot get the toy she desires, and who therefore is on the point of breaking into tears. "Is it right not to comply with the request--

ous half ironical tone: "It seems, madame, to be my fate to e

y something and could not find the strength to do so. Her whole body trembled, and she grasped the back of a chair. He had not meant to wound her so deeply. Oswald was ashamed of his cruelty, especially as he was by no means so much in earnest with the Catonic severity which he had displayed. He went up to Emily; he seized her hand and held it, alt

continued to implore her forgiveness for his insanity--as he called it--in low words, which became every moment more passionate and more tender. Her sobs subsided, like the sobbing of a little girl who feels at last that the doll which she was refused is laid in her arms amid kisses and caresses. Both Oswald and Emily seemed to have entir

ibably pathetic epithet a most marvellous additional charm, that she had committed a mistake, such as will happen to great minds, and to them most easily of all. She had intended to take up the sand-box, and she had taken the inkstand and poured its copious contents to the last drop over her manuscript, and thence in a black cascade over the whole breadth of her yellow-silk dress! And there she was standing now--the cruelly ill-treated sufferer--silent after the first anguish had forced her to utter that cry raising her sadly inked han

ntle voice; "it does not become the friends of persecuted g

o weep bitterly, could not resist any longer. She threw herself

g very offensive for delicately-strung minds like mine;" then turning to Oswald, in the

n her way; "I beg a thousand, thousand pardons; but, pray, see

her own muse-like appearance. But now it was the work of a moment to look, to utter a piercing cry, as if she had beheld a g

" said Oswald, carrying

to say with feeble voice to Oswald and Emily: "I thank you, my friends! You had a right to laugh, du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas

ive terms. Five minutes afterwards Emily and Oswald had been shown

never thought of it! I have ord

eft for you but to accept my

and thus they walked for som

he gate, but was delaying yet a little while before he knocked with his frozen hand. The streets were exceedingly dark, as the lamps had not been lighted f

where we live

the same suburb in which Miss Be

is a lo

the b

r round arm rewarded Os

t least. The virtuous impulse which he had felt just now, and which had been produced partly by the pride of self-respect, had long since passed away. Emily's coquettish charms, whose power he had already once felt overwhelming in the window-niche at Barnewitz, had not failed to have their effect upon his wave

e said, with the most insinuati

and closer to her companion; "can we be angry where we

at, swe

loved a litt

Oswald could not understand how he had ever been ab

eaven which was then looking down upon us with its golden stars! How shall I make amends,

it is all right again. Then I will not be

ppened since! Wh

ied aloud; I could have thrown myself down on the ground; I could have died. And yet I sent Cloten to my aunt to ask her for my hand. How could I do it? You do not know women, if you ask that. Cloten, or any one; I did not care who, at that

y give many years of my life--I would willingly die on the spot--if I could by so doing

d Emily, tenderly and teasingly. "No, no, Oswald; ten thousand

ou dou

I am satisfied. I can bear being called Baron

oth

of making a fool of a man; but then I do it merrily, and not by casting down my eyes prudishly, as Helen does. I can tell you I was angry with her last night for your sake. I thought: there is the poor man dying for love for you; and here are you, the lady of his heart, and you allow yourself to be courted to your heart's con

Oswald, laughing, in a way whi

erg--Waldenberg-M

as long as his name, with a fa

t of becoming Princess Waldenberg-Malikowsky-Letbus, and to be the owner of a few hundred thousand souls--the prince is a Russian--

come quite near to Miss Bear's house, as their way lay in that direction. Emily paused and started, for suddenly a gigantic figure, wrapped in a large clo

; "if it had been less dark we would

with great suddenness to the same state of despair in which Emily had been on that night when she was rejected by Oswald and, with wrath against him and jealousy of Helen in her heart, went to become Cloten's betrothed.

n the same side of the road. Between the villa and the next house a

further with me into the park?" whisper

swered Emily,

ill, which led by means of a short wooden bridge into the park, her heart beat as if it would burst; and when they at last

very da

ng!" replied Oswald, bending his face s

, If we were goin

hich did not meet for the first time to-day,

to his arms. The whole fire of passion which was burning in Emily's heart flared up in wild flames. She kissed his hands, she kissed his lips, she laughed, she cried, she was beside herself! "Oh, take me with you, Oswald! wherever you want--to the end of the world--where no one knows us, no one blames our love! I do not care for riches and for rank. I have not learnt to work, but I will learn it with pleasure

words, and now in winged words of eloquence, like a young little bird that would like to sing forth all that is i

house whenever she saw company. She fancied such intercourse would be perfectly charming. "Cloten is often absent f

ev

ou do not wan

as always been my principle never again to set foot across the threshold of a house where I have been one insulted, purposely or accidentally; for what h

Those I do not wish to see and to

n my case? Or do you think Baron Barnewitz, young Grieben, or whoever

all come. I will receive nobody; and those whom I rec

ally to enter the lists against your society for my sake--where after all you would be infallibly worsted--would your h

I wish; I can ask Ar

ow what the left hand does, but we men are made differently; at least I am. I do not talk to you of moral scruples, which we manage at needs to overcome when we thoroughly despise the man whose confidence we abuse; but I should suffer unspeakable anguish, for which a

ver go back to my house! I will not see him again! he shall never again touch my hand. I have never loved him, you know! O

you still unhappier. Forget that you ever saw him! Go back to your husband! You will not be happy with him; but who is happy in this world? You will get accustomed to him, as man gets accustomed to everything at last. And thus the stream of life will roll on quietly, a little stormy perhaps in the beg

bing ceased after a while; she seemed to comprehend the helplessness of her situation. But suddenly, when they had re

with you. If you cannot love me, I conjure you by all that is sacred to you, tell me. I will not say a word in

mi

mes of me. But if you love me, then you must feel that we must be united in one way or another. How that can be done, I do not see yet;

nd he really believed at tha

city, where a thousand eyes are watching us, that is difficult; but I have another plan. Over there in Ferrytown [this was a little village on the coast just opposite Grunwald, where the ferry-boats landed], an old nurse of mine is living, who is devoted to me. She is a widow, and has an only son of my own age, who would go through fire and water for me. She is an invalid;

d, "especially because I see nothing

w, if you

he

n. The house of Mr. Lemberg--do not forget the name--is the last on the right hand near the shore. Oh, Oswald! Oswald! Think of the happiness of being with you for

he villa without being seen. Oswald heard the bell; t

s thoughts upon any point except the one that he would like to die--that it would be fortunate for him if his life could come to an end--for him and for others. Did not misfortune follow his footsteps? Was it not his fate to carry confusion and sorrow

trated through his clothes, he did not mind it; he hurt himself against the dripping tree, he scratched his hand against the thorn-bushes, he did not feel it. Murmuring curses against provi

own into the night of his heart. Comfort and hope he knew that star could not bring him, but it softened his despair into sorrow. He glided into that humor in which man rises from the chaos of his own passions, looks full of painful pity at the ca

alas! so fa

my dreams

angel-like

pain and gr

one, they a

y will be pa

TER

ad had supper, after waiting a whole hour for Mr. Bemperlein. Now they were sitting around the fire-place. Upon a table near Sophie, where usually the tea-things were placed, stood to-day a small tureen, from which the young lady filled at rare intervals one or the other

be married in the church of the university by Doctor Black, and then an hour

offered place as assistant physician in the great hospital, he thought the matter was settled. But his friend was not the man to abandon so easily a plan to which he had become attached. He wrote again, and--Franz had not anticipated this--he wrote to his father-in-law also. Thus the privy councillor learnt what, according to Franz's plans, wa

that fills every noble, manly heart, to reach the highest degree of perfection in the profession to which it belongs; but more than that, you sacrifice also what you have no right to dispose of--your duty towards your fellow-men. To whom much is given, of him much is expected and much demanded. You will find in the great city a sphere of action such as a C?sar would envy, if a C?sar could ever comprehend in what the true control over men consists. You will be there, in reality, what the flatterers in Rome called a Nero and a Heliogabalus: decus et deliciolae generis humani--orname

own? I am what the world calls a candidate for death; death has marked me already as his own, in order to hit me all the more certainly the next time, but the next time need not come so very soon. If you do not object to it peremptorily, I estimate my probable life yet some four or five years, perhaps even longer. During that time I shall hold my lectures and visit my patients as bef

llor could not well act differently as a man of honor. So he went to his betrothed

"that I must leave of course to you and to papa to decide; for I do not understa

mas, but I have to go at once for a

ou shall see that I am not

o dearly and who loved her so devotedly. But she knew that he would adhere in the hour of decision to the principles which he had inculcated in his daughter, and that he would expect the same firmness from her. It was a hard struggle which these two noble hearts had to endure the night after the evening on which Franz had decided to leave Grunwald; a struggle such as every son of man has to go through once or twice--and alas! in many

ht figure, had made a very favorable impression, thought the plan "not so bad;" Franz "approved," and as for Bemperlein, it was a matter of course, that he adopted it with enthusiasm. He being the most suitable person for the purpose, was therefore deputed to sound Marguerite about her own views; and with such a fine diplomat as Anastasius Bemperlein, it was not surprising that his most delicate mission was crowned with the most brilliant success. Marguerite declared that she was willing to accept the proffered honor de tout son coeur, as soon as she was released from her present engagement. Nothing, therefore, was now wanting but to obtain the gracious dismissal of the Demoiselle Marguerite Martin from the position of subject to Baron Grenwitz. This was more readily accomplished, to everybody's surprise, than had been expected. The bright, sharp eyes of the governess had long been a serious inconvenience to the b

llor's family, and could of course not fail to be prese

offend the feelings of the others by her own cheerfulness, but her innate vivacity did not allow her to be silent for any length of time, and every moment she broke out into a "dites moi donc, mademoise

erlein can be to-night," said Sophie, looking at her watch; "

can explain the matter,"

something. "I have not seen him since last night. I am almost afraid

lodgings to-da

inquired

ugh the closed door that he could not see me; he had an important chem

aid Sophie. "Had you not better

d Franz, emptying h

-wings fastened to the shoulders and a bow in the hand, with the requisite quiver and arrows on the shoulder, together with a wreath on the head, proclaimed him undoubtedly as Amor, although the s

y with graceful steps, remained standing

r, most worthy father of the br

see it is

eat go

flames bur

am, rich

ars my arr

e hope of d

sent from

and small an

wounded b

quer'd on

show you

ich will mak

dia-rubber balls instead of points. Thereupon he placed the harmless arrow on the harmless bow and aimed it at Sophie, who caught it cleverly in her hand and pressed it with comic p

ave been d

heir peac

be clea

y're for

no rest an

down, or blo

parson mak

are altog

hee well, p

gh all the w

ee well, oh

shall aga

well, oh fr

r joy at al

e well, goo

follow ano

with the ev

gone, oh ev

re-place, which had at first beamed with merriment, had become graver and graver, and throu

ing, Bemperly," said Soph

, emptying the glass at one gulp. "But n

iver as if to convince himself that the

as you have

arrows shar

times he f

ps anxious w

ng god is fu

glanced adoringl

inks not of

tender love

derstand!' s

Marguerite, who had hardly understood a single word of all that Amor had said, but who clearly saw from the laughter of her friends t

s own hearty laugh; but immediately he co

he youth in g

me, who am

est arrow h

girl, so tha

Amor laid his han

know how o

love her wit

ed: 'my dea

forthwith w

st arrow t

t at her fro

s this sharp

l burn deep i

dia-rubber ball a slip of paper was fastened on which something was written, though it could not

ken love, Tell me what bett

ot wait for the results of his heroic deed; he turned his back, adorned with t

the paper,

s see the paper

icipated this, pushed the paper aside before the flames could seize it, snatched it up and called out, "I have it! I have it!" Marguerite wanted to take the precious document from her, but Sophie ran away with it. Marguerite followed her, while Franz and the privy councillor laughed heartily at the efforts of the little Lac

s, exulting. "Here, Marguerite, is your paper. I do not care to see no

rtesy and handed Marguerite the pape

the young lady in her exuberance of m

god of love by the shoulders and

adies are fighting who is to have me, without my making the slightest advance

and down in the room, evidently buried in thought. Franz, Sophie, and the privy councillor were soon engaged in weighty family matters, and did not observe, therefore, that Bemperlein also had risen quietly, and joining Marguerite, had commenced a conversation in a low tone with her, which soon became so interesting that they had to adjourn to the deep bay-window, where the broad folds of a heavy curtain protected them safely ag

very remarkable sou

w; Mademoiselle Marguerite had at once desired to turn back again, but Be

ad what was

ot have been a little Lacerta if she had not answe

tell you w

ein, however, interpreting her silence and her trembling in his favor, placed his arm around the slender wa

and yet did not make any effort to escape from the arms of h

nswer! Do you lov

, for a man so perfectly at home in love affairs as Mr. Anastasius Bemperlein was, but to hold

. They looked at each other in silence. The privy councillor smiled; but Franz a

le Lacerta, slipping, full of terr

seized the little lady by the hand, drew back the curtain, stepped, like t

pleasure of presenting to you my dea

said to be much surprised, especially after the scene with Amor and the kiss in the bay-window. For all that the congratulations were none the less hearty. The men shook hands cordially, So

the servant who came in to bring up the last of twelve bottles of "Johannisberg Cabinet," which a sovereign once had presente

r I can help--a word has constantly come back to me, a plaintive, tearful word, which once the poor Roman plebeians, overwhelmed with hard service, cried out before the patricians: 'Sine missione nascimur!'--that means, you girls, 'We are born to have no leave of absence!' You do not care whether our strength is used up in th

from his glass and continue

so, whether our arms are the pen or the brush, the plough or the hammer, the compass or the lancet. And work--inexorable, imperious work--what does it care for the workman?--whether his temples are beating with fever, whether his brain is overwrought to insanity, or his limbs are trembling from exhaustion--work d

omplete change which has taken place in the relative position of men. Then, work and conflict were in the hands of a few heroes, while the masses were following in idleness and laziness with loud cries. Now the individual, however great he may be, counts for little; the whole strength of our day lies in the masses, which are pressing forward in close columns, slowly but irresistibly, in the path of progress. This is not yet clearly seen by many. Rulers, princes, and princes' servants, who have a dim apprehens

at does it matter whether you break down to-day or to-morrow? Behind you follows a younger and stronger soldier who will at once step over

son-in-law's hand; but Sophie, who had long struggled w

ession of Faith: 'On the tree of mankind blossom blooms by blossom.' I see all around me budding and blooming; a whole spring of mankind in miniature. How long will it be before these buds and blossoms will change into glorious flowers, and ripen to luscious fruit? Will I live to see it? I wish to do so, I hope so; but even if it

the windows in the street. Then all had been silent again; and as the privy councillor said his last words there arose suddenly, in

eed in God'

hou mu

t's dearest

this world t

uman

e love for e

g on her father's breast; the eyes of the men were brimful of tears; Marguerite even, although she did

gers--members of the Mechanics' Club, which the privy councillor had founded years ago, and whose president Franz had been during the last weeks.

rose the mi

st understa

part, they s

e meet

e meet

ay. It was dark again in the street; but in the hearts of those who were standing up-stairs in

TER

hrough the bare branches; and where dry leaves are yet hanging on old oak-trees, they no longer whisper to each other lovingly as in the beautiful summer time, but rustle weird and woefu

walks with withered wet leaves. On the terrace, under the broad branching pine-tree, the favorite place of the mistress of the house, the little round tabl

his gray beard; but he no longer raises his voice to give vent to a powerful oath or so, as he used to do; for after all it is not the servant's fault, but the tenant's, who has not been prevailed upon these five years to mend the road. This tenant is every way a vessel of wrath for the old man. He keeps his cattle in bad order; he is cruel to his hands; in the third place he knows, according to the old man's notions, nothing of farming; and, finally, he has a red nose, and is always hoarse, two peculiarities attributed to brandy, and equally disgusting to the old man's eyes and ears. And, above all, the terrible prospect of never losing sight of this man for the whole of his life (for his term has twenty years more to run, and the old man is not going to liv

o! Ba

the same voice, at least the same tone of voice, which has warmed the old man's heart now for a quarter of a century and longer. He

matter, you

e a ride with

t the sky, where dark, heavy clouds are

all have rain, and perhaps snow, in half

handsome boy, grumbling; "the pony is getting stiff from

d man; "we were only yest

e miles! And the doctor says

ng for a good pretext to give way without dishonor. "I will just open the windows in the parlo

ut make

d man, and his gray head

and down the long walk between the clipped yews of the terrace. As he does not find his mother here, and yet is in such a very great hurry, he considers whether he has not done all that could be done. He hesitates for a moment, and is just about to turn back, when it occurs to him that Baumann

y round a bush, which has been so well sheltered by old linden-trees that

?" says Melitta, placing her

ys the boy, who is in such a h

looks very

s the same. But I am so anxious to

Melitta, looking at her watch,

have to change your dress, and then it may real

sly smiling at the boy's na?ve egotism. "Then m

d Baumann has himself saddled the boy's pony--he never allows the grooms to saddle either

rays through the green foliage above upon the flower-beds in all their splendor. How the scene had changed since then? Where are the red rays of the sun now? where the green leaves? and where the bright flowers? Is this the same earth that exhaled a soft, balsamic breath, like the kiss

fichu which she has tied over her head, fastening it under the chin, frames the lovely oval of her fair face! And how much more clearly the expression of goodness of heart, which always made the handsome face so attractive, strikes the observer now! And yet the soft brown eyes look so much graver! the charming mouth, whose red lips formerly looked as if they wer

yes of old Baumann--she stops for a moment. On this bench she sat on that eventful summer afternoon with Oswald, when they had watched two white butterflies who were hovering on their delicate wings over the flower forests of the parterre and caught each other and chased each other and then rose into the blue ether, embracing each other, then parting again to flutter hither and thither into the green wilderness. "Will those butterflies ever meet again in life?" she had asked Oswald; and he

ste and embarrassment. Oldenburg, whose morality was constantly decried so bitterly; who had the reputation of having had countless liaisons dangereuses in his life; so carefully anxious, so tenderly concerned, for the good repute of a widow! Why did he treat her so differently from all other women, of whom he got tired so soon? Will he come to-night? The hour has passed at which the hoof of his Almansor is commonly heard on the pavement of the yard. The young widow looks anxiously up to the dark clou

he Sakyee in the burning heat of the sun. There, on the market-place of Asyut, black slaves are crouching, who had but yesterday come down from Darfoor on the large Nile boats. But amid all these sketches not one single trait of frivolous sensuality! He describes the dancing of these children of the Sun with the calm words of a professional critic. When he sees the poor woman at the waterworks, he curses the tyrannical government which forces even helpless women to work for cruel taxes, and in the slave market at Asyut his heart is heavy with grief that man should permit the image of God to sink to the level of a brute, or even below! "Sorrow! sorrow!" he cries; "such as man cannot imagine--and the most sorrowful is that when we see such degradation we begin to despair of man himself, for we cannot help acknowledging to ourselves that beneath the civilized sentiments that shine on the surface, deep down in the darkness of our heart the same fearful passions

n he took anything from the hand of the other. She had cunningly made a most beautiful bouquet, and when the young man admired the flowers, she had said with a bashful smile, "Would you like to have it, Adalbert?" And when he, blushing at the unexpected fa

PE

a littl

PE

deep brown

PE

in brown

as like a s

PE

a summe

PE

in shad

PE

flowers fro

at me, the d

SE! J'Y

orgot t

PE

by ever

PE

y happines

say and be

PE

full of hope as this, but they ar

ions. Only on one of the last pages there was written in a very bold hand, as if t

mine! I have a

cold and pall

e, and thus tho

! For all my m

wandering i

e, therefor

he! And yet, if I thus live through him only, do I therefore really belong to him? Melitta rested her head on her hands in order to be able the better to puzzle out this enigma, which, after all, the heart only can solve, and not the head. She does not succeed, therefore, any better now than before, and this only is clear to her, that Oldenburg has never been so near to her heart, and has never been so dear to her as now. But now for the reverse of the medal. "Therefore I am thine!" To be sure he has told me so a thousand times by words and by acts, but--but--is this love, which

so restless a mind ever restrict itself to the narrow limits of a family circle? May no

as mechanically opened the book once more, and as she turns over

ely to have her head turned? that the worship of a single one cannot count for much with her? that love loses its value because of the abundance of the supply! But man! if he is not exceptionally a prince, they do not make much ceremony with him in life. At school, at the university, he may, if luck favors him, have so-called friends who help him to bear existence; but he has no sooner entered upon actual life, than the host of friends is gone and forever, and he stands alone; he must bear alone his sorrows, his necessities, and what is almost as bad, his joys. Society opens for him; but when?--after he has succeeded; and until then?--till then he has to journey along a weary, dusty road, without shade and without resting-place, which robs him of the best part of his life's strength, and his life's joy. But if he succeeds, he is chastised with scorpions, though he was before chastised only with whips. Even his friends become

angeable, through the night of his life. And certainly, when we find in history an Arnold Winkelried, who defied death and made an opening for freedom with his body--did he do it

ot taken it out now to draw or to paint. She searches till she comes to a loose leaf, upon which the profile of a man is lightly sketched in bold outlines. In the corner are the letters A. V. O., and the date, July, 1844. The leaf has not come loose of itself; it has evidently been torn out. What unnecessary trouble we give ourselves by indulging in a moment's caprice! now

ta begins to be troubled about the long absence of Julius. Perhaps he has had after all an accident; or perhaps it was the old man. She reproaches herself for having allowed the boy to ride out so lat

dred yards off. She opens the window and leans far out, unmindful of the flakes which fall on her dark hair and melt on her brow. Was not that a horse's hoof? There they are coming out of the forest, one, two, three dark figures: Oldenburg, the old man, and between them Julius; Almansor and Brownlocks in full trot, the pony between

Julius runs up to the window and calls

me in, and tell Uncle Oldenburg not to bus

PTE

ea-things, and then gone out, casting a benevolent glance at his mistre

" said Melitta, who sat on the sofa, while the baron was slowly walk

hen, tr

a letter this after

ve just been writing t

said Oldenburg, pausing in his w

; w

em

at an

y significative. 'Hem

case, for

same time in Fichtenau when Czika and Xenobia as w

denburg, however, did not give her time to reply, but drew Birkenhain's

at my request, regarding Julius's health--'Julius mu

, a fondness for life. But I had immensely underrated the fund of inner life which was at the disposal of my patient. He could have lived for years on the treasures of his mind, and the only effect of my efforts was, that he gave himself up more fully than ever to his bottomless, original Naught. Nevertheless, I still hoped for some improvement, a reaction which I thought could not fail to arise in so vigorous a mind as Berger's. About that time--I think it was the very day on which you and Frau von Berkow were here, and I forgot to tell you in the hurry in which you were, anything about these matters which interested me deeply--a visitor, who had announced to me his desire to see Professor Berger, came very apropos. This was a young man called Doctor Stein'"--Oldenburg did not look up as he came to the name--"'of whom a colleague in Grunwald, with whom he was travelling, had told me that he had been Berger's favorite and most intimate friend. I hoped the very best results f

went at once to my patient, who had in the meantime taken a walk a

to press him further. I hoped to learn more about it from Doctor Stein. He had left the same night, "on account of pressing business," as he wrote me the next day in a little note from one of the nearest stations. What had happened between him and Berger remained a secret for me; I only learnt from others that they had been seen that night in a waggoner's inn, where they had been eating and drinking with rope-dancers, who happened to be in the place, and who had created quite a sensation there, less by their tricks than'"--Oldenburg's voice began to tremble a little--"'by a beautiful gypsy woman wi

, proved to my great joy that I had not been mistaken. In this letter the strange man asked my pardon if he should have caused me a few disagreeable days by his stealthy departure from Fichtenau; he had not known, he said, how else he could have carried out the idea which he had mentioned to me. He had joined, for the moment, a party consisting of "good people, but bad musicians," for the very purpose of carrying out that idea, and the idea itself was this: that he could not put hi

n's letter, after having read

; did you also hear people talk of this beautiful gypsy woman and her chil

a; "it was Xenobia and Czika, an

hand. "You did!" he murmured; "

ing with the Brown Countess in the Fichtenau forest, how she had tried to persuade the gypsy to come with her, and how she had been grieved when she found all her persuasions and her prayers unavailing

he tears were running down her cheeks,

m Berger speaks in his letter to Birkenhain, were none else but those very rope-dancers, whom he had joined, and with whom he has wandered to Northern Germany, as the letter says. Perhaps he is even now in our neighborhood. If Birkenhain had mentioned the name of the place, I would suggest to you to go there at once and to do what you can to bring Xenobia and Czika back with you; as it is, however, it would only be a wild-goose chase, from which you would return disap

t I can do in this case, why do you a

trace of the lost one; because I know that you yearn to see your child; because I know tha

nal

ight look as if I did not wish you such happiness, and for all the wor

hrough the room for a little while. "Can you believe it, Melitta, that I could now almost wi

ible, A

not as dead as I felt; or I threw myself into wild excesses and neck-breaking adventures, in order to feel at least that I was still living. But now all that has suddenly changed. Since there has come to me the faintest ray of hope that you may yet some time consent to be mine, the world has recovered all its youthful beauty in my eyes; but now I should also like to see the

head. When Oldenburg paused she took the diary, which lay ope

t, the world would soon be in the clouds altogether; if woman ruled, we should never rise above the top of the wheat-blades that nod over the lark's nest in the furrow. The way to reconcile the two tendencies is love. When he loves a beautiful woman, man learns that he is not merely a denizen of the spiritual world; and when a

denburg, who stood at a little distance

s one thing--whether your zeal to convert me is quite pure, or whether the priestess is not anxious to direct the

enbu

d in it. Without you I am nothing. With you I defy a world in arms. I know very well that we ought to do right for the sake of the right, and that he who asks for reward has already his reward. But I am not a saint. I am a man, with all the

e, so in the tone of his voice there was rather a tone of command than of prayer. That man

fend her this time as it had often done bef

oy a single hour of my life if I were to fear that your love for myself had extinguished in your heart its most sacred sentiment. And, Adalbert, think also of this; I am willing to believe it: You do not love any longer the woman

Stein the last time since

few words slowly and

which raged in Oldenburg's heart set her own on fire, and kindled th

hat I saw him at

you kept this encounter fr

d seen him i

be what I ha

een him since q

coming here is as improper for myse

od-night, Melitta!" "Good-night!" replied the proud woman, without raising her eyes. He waited for a moment, and for another moment, hoping that she would look

t she only leaned with uplifted arms against it and wept passionate

dalbert! Adalbert!" but the storm that drove the icy snow-flakes in her face swept away her voice, and the black shadow of horse and rider, wh

PTE

om northern lands, fall thick upon roofs and trees, upon meadows and fields; and one who looked for a time into the darkling air, from whi

e seen to-day. He has been standing there many hours to-day, and scarcely noticed Herrman, who comes and goes with mournful mien, and packs several large trunks which stand open about the room, filling them with clothes and linen and books

l, my goo

ther to keep him from carrying out his purpose. Moreover, if he had intended to reach the ferry before night, noon would have been the very latest hour at which to start. He is probably not very much pressed to go. Perhaps he is rather pleased to see the snow-storm, as it gives him an excuse from without

ary man. He opens the door and steps out on the balcony; he leans upon the railing through whose iron bars the wind is whistling in shrill notes. He does not cast a look at the tall chalk-cliffs which stretch far out to the right and the left, and which now, with the stern forests they bear on their rugged brow, shine in the setting sun for a moment in blood-red colors. He looks fixedly down, where, a hundred feet below him, the wild ocean lashes the huge blocks of rock on the shore

ear to the siren-song that never sounded nearer or dearer to me? Siren-song--that it is! What do women know of the true love which men feel in their hearts? All is caprice with them--idle play and vanity. A pair of blue eyes, a smooth tongue, and

lusion from my soul and grow rough like the wintry sea; and as nobody loves me, I will love nobody in return. I will go through life lonely, as that snowbird

an; and a man is a great deal more

was that could have spoken these words in such a

ng Oldenburg's anxiously inquiring

od rushing madly to his heart; "speak

t an hour ago to our house, with a child, and who wishes to see the b

seemed as if a veil had fa

!" he

z, and into the wide snow plain, with its distant gray horizon, and a few scarcely-perceptible trees and cottages here and there, thickly covered with snow. The road also was nearly hid, and even the track made by the sleigh in coming had long been effaced by the storm. It required all of Oldenburg's familiarity with the country

step into the garden-

on the point of going out. The old man screwed up the lamp, kindled the fir

. A thousand confused thoughts filled, his mind at once; he walked u

w of to-day which fell upon our souls yesterday in anticipation. How stupid I was, how blinded by passion, that I did not understand the warning! Yes, she has an older, a holier right; and woe is me if I were to disregard this right! I

e turned round, and there stood Melitta, pale and serious,

g, offering her both han

e replied, placing her hands in his; "let

y into each other's

said Oldenburg, sadly. "I cannot

ust bear in patie

let go h

is

sleeping and waking, but she knows me; a

ika wi

es

I see

in alone. I shall

and down in the room, his arms crossed on his breast and h

om

at he saw it; and, as she led him by the hand to the door, the thought passed through his head, what a strange circumstanc

erdesses, adorned the room, in heavy gilt frames. A massive lustre with glass crystals hung from the ceiling, and played in the fitful light which filled the room in all the colors of the rainbow. And in the midst of all this splendor, in an immense tent-bed, the silk curtains of which were drawn back, lay upon snowy pillows a poor woman, sick unto death, who had first seen the light of the stars in distant Hungary behind a hedge, and who had spent her nights through all her life in barns and stables, and still more frequently under the open sky, on the heath, or in the woods, beneath the lofty vaults of ancient beech-trees. Her large eyes, shining with feverishness, wandered restlessl

y busy preparing a cooling drink, and he hardly looked up from his

them. A faint smile of satisfaction passed ove

them. This seemed to please Xenobia. Her smile became br

ands on Czi

burg's hand trembled as it touched

me the o

rmured something which the others did not understand, and which might have been a

she

u will not aba

hile Melitta, unable to utter

ds, in order to cross he

, in a very low tone of voice; "onl

old man, who came up with the cooling drink. He nodded his v

her out of the room. The clock on the mantel-piece began to st

hrew himself into an arm-chair near the fire, and glared with trouble

alb

t her with a q

not leave,

wish i

tience till--you can see

es

your ha

flowing. She bent down and kissed his brow. Then she sat do

ctor Balthasar. While the old gentleman was warming his

in the lungs--travelling in this weather--can't recove

e the room, the door opened, and old Ba

e!" he said to D

aloud, drew Czi

old story--always call me when all is ov

PTE

mmer a beautiful view may be had over the meadow, which slopes gradually down to the garden and the castle. They have dug a grave there in the black earth, and in the deep

now marked by a large lock of granite, bearing simply the name of Xenobia on its one smoothly-polished side. Melitta is almost always holding the brown child by the hand, and speaks more frequently to her than to her son, who in his turn waits on the child with almost chivalrous tenderness. "When the roads are a little better I will drive you i

lling to go wit

ittle while Julius was speaking, but no

k again," she said, looking with he

, Czika?" inq

et is Czika

lip contemptuously; but a glance from his mother's e

y, Czika?" he asks,

ther and I buried

ears. Oh, Czika! the pony always shies when we meet him. But that does not matter. He must get accustomed to it, or else"--and Julius threatened him with his switch--"I

elitta; "and his na

on Bella, I on the pony, and Czika on Hamet; and then--but no, I am afraid Hamet won

will go

ide very slowly, Czika; I should not like yo

he had any suspicion that the girl could be Oldenburg's child, to keep her, and to bring her up with her Julius; and how strangely her wish had now come to be fulfilled. And then her thoughts are wandering into the future, and of the possible t

loor, for she has declared, in her own grave and solemn way: "Czika will die if you put her into a bed." The little one retires very early--generally as soon as it is dark out-doors; so that Oldenburg, who comes over at that time from Cona, does not find her any more in the sitting-room. He has occasionally gone with Melitta and st

ear her call me father,

ent, Adalbert,"

his eyes with her own dear, sweet eyes. He is sorry it should be so; but he, who knows Melitta's noble soul better than anybody else, would have wondered most if it had been otherwise. Melitta no longer loves the man who had conquered her heart in an unguarded hour and in a storm of passion, but the wound which the joy and the sorrow of this love has inflicted on her heart is still bleeding, and here also time must do what reasoning cannot accomplish. The peculiar situation in which Oldenburg stands to Melitta is no doubt of great influence, for the time, on his whole manner of thinking and of feeling. He has laid aside the plans for the improvement of the world, which he formerly cherished, as impracticable, since he has found that he wi

ur which he feels must come. She understands it perfectly well that he wants to go to Paris in order to exchange his new views with his

m to this very place. Not far from the gates of Berkow, she says, he turned back. That man also had intended to go to Paris. They press the child, and at last there remains no doubt that the old man of whom she speaks was Berger. Who can tell why he left those whom he had so tenderly befriended al

e was there on a visit to Melitta. He had then had many a philosophical and political conversati

all my life, have made me what people call crazy," the professor had once said; "I feel as if nothing but a breathful of free

Oldenburg, as he packed his trunks; "yes, indeed! t

TER

le, nay--what was much more in her case--no expense, and had spent an immense amount of hypocritical friendship and love, ma

ly had been secured for several years by his generous aunt, who knew perfectly well that he had only a few months more to live. He had arranged all his affairs, and spoken candidly to his aunt about everything except that one unpleasant story about Timm. He left Anna Maria under the pleasant impression that the impertinent young man had been intimidated by him, and that he had been satisfied with a f

to her room through the assembled servants, pressing her handkerchief

a way with a young man whom I have loved as my own son; to have to see his youthful vigor cruelly broken, and with it all the fond hopes which had been cherished for his future. And poor Helen, also, will feel the blow sadly; for, if I am not altogether mistaken, a tender attachment had begun to bud between the two relatives, whom Heaven itself seemed to have formed for each other. An attachment which was at first concealed, as happens often enough, by an ap

nner of the baroness. She received, therefore, the confidence of the great lady with great reserve

and, besides, I should not like to interfere in any way with her studies, her plans, and even her fancies. Helen knows my wishes. For the present, therefore

taken off her gold spectacles for that purpose; she had smoothed down the official wrinkles on her brow, and carried up with her as much kin

se be inexplicable in the conduct of your mother. You need not blush, my dear child; not a word has been said that could injure you in my eyes; on the contrary, Sophie and myself have only pitied you heartily, that you should have so much to suffer while you are still so young. We looked upon your removal from your father's house as u

d than she generally showed, but her self-control di

r a time, stood in somewhat decided opposition to each other; but I hope mamma has forgotten it all as completely as I have. You know how fond I am of your house, and how much I like to

ted herself in order to win Helen's confidence; and now, instead of confidence, instead of frankness, she met nothing but reserve and diplomatic pru

trip to Heligoland in company with the principal of the school and half a dozen other girls from Hamburg, and on this occasion they had gone on board a British man-of-war, lying at anchor there. The officers had, of course, received their charming visitors with the greatest courtesy and after refreshments had been offered, they had wound up with an exceedingly pleasant little ball on the main deck. The captain of the frigate, a handsome young man, with a dark sunburnt complexion, had especially attracted the attention of the young ladies, and would have been still more popular with them all if he had not so signally distinguished his countrywoman, Mary Burton. The consequence was that Miss Mary Burton was henceforth incessantly teased about the handsome captain, until at last the trip to Heligoland and all that belonged to it was forgotten amid new and more stirring events. But two persons had never forgotten it, and these two were the captain and Miss Mary Burton. When the young lady returned to England, three years later, one of the first persons she met at the house of a relative, a great lady in town, was Captain Crawley, who now, since his father and elder brother had died, was Lord Crawley

he--Helen dared not think it out. But now, when an opportunity offered to escape from this humiliating position; now, when even her proud mother condescended to proffer a request which she did not dare present in

he slender poplar-trees rocked to and fro in the sharp wind which hissed and whistled through the few leaves, while a crow came flapping her wings, sat for a few moments on the topmost branch of one of the trees, rocking restlessly to and fro, cawed as if the inhospitable treatment was too provoking, and fle

igently curbed his fiery black horse and never turned his dark face from the young lady by his side; and all, as far as the eye could reach--castle and lake and forests and fields, which spread down, down along the lake, and far, far into the country--all belonged to the young lady and her husband, the knight on the proud horse And then castle and forests and fields sank into the lake, and the lake grew into a sea which beat high up against the white chalk-cliffs with their cr

he had wrapped herself up in a shawl, put on a hat with a close veil, and had hurried down the stairs which led into the garden, and was now standing at the gate that led from the garden into the park. All of a sudden her courage left her. She was ashamed of an impulse that had misled her, and made her take so unwomanly a step, of which she heartily repented. She was just about to turn back again, when the two figures once more came up the avenue which led past the garden gate. She hid behind one of the pillars of the gate, so as not to be seen; but a single glance at the two had convinced her t

TER

, and even the general did not inspire half as much respect as First-Lieutenant Prince Waldenberg; for the servants knew that their master never scolded, but dismissed them upon the slightest neglect, and the men had terrible stories to tell about him in the guardhouse and in the barracks. The rumor was that the prince had the unpleasant habit, if a soldier showed the faintest sign of insubordination of killing him on the spot--a habit which he had quite recently indulged in at the capital, and which had led to his being detached from the Guards and sent to a line regiment in garrison at Grunwald. The story was probably a myth, like so many others; the prince had been sent to Grunwald in order to study fortification and coast and harbor defence, and other useful branches, in preparation for the high position to which he was entitled, if not by his military genius, at all events by his high rank; but the myth proved how the common people, who have a very keen eye for the virtues and

st him much who had more estates than they had acres of land, and more shepherds than they had sheep. As for the ladies--why there were some very pleasant ones among them, like the beautiful Misses Frederika, Nathalie and Gabriella Nadelitz, Hortense Barnewitz, a trifle passée but all the more clever a

honor to the ingenuity of the before-mentioned lovers of gossip and watchers of features. The Countess Grieben knew positively that the prince was spending every evening at the Grenwitz mansion; others had it that he passed the institute of Miss Bear daily after dress-parade, on his superb Tcherkessian stallion; and still others, that he was frequently seen a

ntess Stilow was actually fulfilled, and Helen Grenwitz exchanged her modest little

l. The old gentleman had of late become exceedingly capricious, obstinate, and violent, so that one hardly recognized in him the kind good-n

m to retire; "it is very difficult now to get along with your father, and I need your kind support more than ever. Malte is too young, and I fear too heartless, to admit of putting any confidence in him. I have be

. It was not in the nature of either of them to be particularly affectionate. They treated each other as

ldenberg came almost every evening; and as he did not play cards, and it could not well be presumed that he found many charms in the conversation with Count and Countess Grieben, who were

young people were but rarely invited, the task was not very difficult. The prince and Helen spent long hours alone in the little boudoir by the side of the large room with three windows, where the car

a German. All the memories of his childhood and youth, with the only exception of the short time which he had spent in France, and more recently in Germany, were Russian. He had been page at the court of the Emperor Nicholas, and the daily sight of this magnificent monarch, with whom he was even said to share certain peculiarities of figure and carriage, had probably not been without influence on the character of the young prince. He had received a purely military education among the cadets of the Michailow palace, the same palace whose vast apartments witnessed in that fearful night the murder of an emperor, when the wife of Paul I., frightened by the low sound of a number of voices and clanking of arms, snatched the young Princes Nicholas and Michael from their beds and hastened with them through the long suit of rooms to the emperor's apartments, when icy Count Pahlen met her, carried her almost forcibly back to her rooms, and locking the door carefully, said: "Restez tranquille, madame; il n'y a pas de danger pour vous." The prince had quite a number of similar stories, and they did not fail to have their eff

woman, and made her a melancholy enthusiast. His father, Count Malikowsky, he said, was spending most of his time in travelling and at watering-places, as he was still passionately fond of the pleasures of life in spite of his age and his delicate health, and thus could combine at these Spas pleasure and profit. He, the prince, had, properly speaking, nothing to do with his father. They exchanged short letters with each other once or twice a year, on special occasions; he had seen his father the last time at the capital, when

oung men of his rank; but as he was far from being brilliant, and as he looked upon everything from the unchangeable standpoint of the of

sion he thoug

tly in his work-shop, the artist in his atelier, and the scholar in his study they must all thank the soldier, who for their sake stands guard at the town-gate, patrols the streets at night, disperses noisy revellers, and fights the enemy when he threatens the country. Compared with this profession, all others are low and vulgar. And that it is beyond doubt the

l who are not nobles are unfit f

ined by God, is everywhere stirring. In our state they have most unfortunately attempted to keep it down by gentle means and by concessions. I believe that sternness and severity alone can check this spirit. We are sure of the men who have been for three years under, our control and influence; but we are not sure of the officer who is not noble. Send a platoon under a Lieut

which the king had made that spring to the liberal party, and to the spirit of

e, according to which he is forced to govern, whether he will or not, then he ought not to have conjured up even the shadow of a constitution. The shadow is soon followed by the substance. I confess that I

to her mind. Emily's manner had changed so strikingly of late that even outsiders had noticed it. The young lady who had formerly found happiness only in the wildest turmoil of pleasure, now avoided society as much as she had formerly sought it; and when she could not escape from invitations to her former circles, she seemed to have only scoffing and scorn for all she had admired in other days. She declared that the officers were stupid, dancing a childish amusement, and a masked ball the height of absurdity. She treated the ladies with undisguised irony, and the men with open contempt, especially her husband, who did not know what to make of the strange change, and only discovered gradually the one fact, that of all the many foolish things which Albert Cloten had done in his time, the making of an accomp

seemed as if the relations between Helen and the prince were gradually assuming the desired shape. She considered it at least a good sign that Helen expressed no desire to improve the conversation in the boudoir next to the card-room by invi

TER

notes of an ?olian harp with the wild allegro of his present life. His enthusiastic youth, when rosy clouds edged the horizon, and behind them lay a mysterious, wonderful future; his days of supreme happiness at Grenwitz, where the old legend of the paradise seemed to be repeated for him; his friendly intimacy with great and at least good men;--whither had all this flown? His youth was gone forever, with all the sweet rosy dreams of youth. Of the paradise, nothing was left but the bitter taste of the fruit from the tree of knowledge: that fickleness of heart and true love can never go hand in hand .... And his friends? With Berger he had parted, and probably forever, at the gate of the insane asylum; in Oldenburg he now hated a rival, and the rich aristocrat, the favori

son to complain. She had met Oswald with a three-fold friendship: as the mother of two marriageable daughters, as the wife of his superior, and as the president of the dramatic club, and she had been deeply offended in all these capacities. Oswald had not only failed to return the bashful attachment which had begun to germinate in the hearts of Thusnelda and Fredegunda, but he had called these victims of his caprice before a numerous company "little goslings, who wanted nothing but the plumage to be perfect." Ah, it had all been duly and faithfully reported! He had compared the fair president, the wife of his presiding officer, with an o

her inordinate desires, now that her heart for the first time clearly felt its own capacities? And she loved Oswald with the whole passion of a naturally most tender, affectionate heart, and with the whole recklessness of a woman who had all her life looked upon the world only as a football of her sovereign pleasure. It was in vain that Oswald reminded her of the duties of his position--of the difficulties arising from his narrow circumstances. "I cannot conceive how you can hesitate between the weariness you feel in teaching your boys and the delight we feel in each other's company. Why don't you give up the stupid col

ld that covered the bay between the island and the continent. Primula had been initiated into the secret after Emily's recklessness had once led to a most ridiculous scene of discovery, and it was characteristic that the author of the "Cornflowers" had soon overcome her first feeling of jealousy, and henceforth looked upon this "union of loving souls" as extremely romantic, and found that the lovers in their helplessness, threatened by an unloving world, were highly pitiable, and she herself, as the protector of such an "heroi

rian sky to milder skies, away from these wild cyclopses and soulless ichthyophagi! Ami

blow might cost. Finally, his attachment for Emily had grown from a mere whim into a full passion, which did not exactly warm his heart but influenced his imagination, and which he did not care to combat very earnestly because it afforded him a kind of excuse for h

ed be told only half a word to be at home in the most complicated affair. He had never troubled Oswald with curious questions, and yet knew how to draw from him very quickly nearly all he desired to hear. He knew that Oswald had secret meetings at Mrs

Grenwitz family for the legacy, then the hope of winning Helen should be his motive. Thus it was why Helen must not be lost for Oswald, nor Oswald for Helen. And even this might now happen. Albert, whose eyes were everywhere, had not failed to learn that Prince Waldenberg was daily at the Grenwitz mansion; he had discovered, besides, other suspicious evidences of the favorable progress of the new relations between Helen and the prince; as, for instance, magnificent bouquets ordered at the first florist's establishment by the prince, which were "to be sent that night to Grenwitz House." S

ddress himself hereafter, "in all business matters," directly to his aunt, the baroness. Albert had as yet not availed himself of this permission, as it was difficult even for him to spend four hundred dollars a month in the mo

mor that he gave up his original intention to attend an extraordinary meeting of "the Rats" in the city cellar, and instead, paid a visit to his lan

head, bald at the temples, gave him a most god-fearing expression. Nor was Mr. Toby really so very god-fearing, unless his piety consisted in the solemn manner with which he stepped, Sunday after Sunday and year after year, dressed in his shiny-black dress-coat, black trousers, and a long flowing black gown fastened to the collar, through the church, pushing his ve

ce to Mr. Timm, the "famous fellow." Mr. Toby Goodheart and Mr. Albert Timm had since that hour formed the closest intimacy, a friendship which was cement

used to sit, with his hat on his head, and found the excellent man engaged

, throwing his hat upon a chair and himsel

taking another tumbler and spoon from the cupboard and pl

re than less," was

nk according to this prescription, Alb

ight, Albert mine!" said Toby,

a lie to say

er? Has little L

Louisa b

little note, which you ha

ng of th

had mixed for Albert upon the table and stirring it

oo sweet nor too bitter, neither too strong nor too weak, and when he had gained the conv

night," said Toby, good

enwitz a foolish sort of a thing with a little bl

iling cunningly; "I kno

ects, to be sure, she was as stupid, too, for you know she lent me, poor

s noble

he wants t

give he

N

ay that you know nothing about

great friends, with whom I sho

y n

Marguerite is no longer w

rd. Where

Councillor

she get

orsooth; the hypocrite who, I am told, is now the privy councillor

him!" said Toby. "But

off--you know best why--you will understand that you cannot, as a man of honor, keep a moment longer a sum of money which was placed at your disposal under very different circumstances. Finally, I beg leave to say that the young lady feels a very natural inclination to leave the matter untouched, but that I learnt accidentally from members of the Grenwitz

uncillor is a man of high standing in the town, especially since he has paid his debts--heave

e baroness! It is malice in her; but she shall pay

ured the rest of the

oness? I hope, Albert mine, my boy, you have got all the lots of money

do you

ness is not so

old vixen! I am

how did you g

ious allusions to the power you have over t

ll me where the m

es

hen we can begin our stories. But look here; honor

ot peck at anoth

the grog with artistic care, unbuttoned his black

unwald; and I have not always

own; and whose sexton you were before you became St. Bridget

high compliment. He smiled contentedly,

my vocation, when I tell you that I had had twenty masters before I was twenty years old. About this time it occurred to me how much more pleasant it would be to be my own master; and as I had laid

t, I dare say, you

ly represented in my nice little business. I made it a principle to have only female waiters, and so the '

rner of the sofa and broke out into a loud laugh, while the honorable Toby again only smiled

ladies were, of course, always very pretty; and I can say that, of all my colleagues, I managed to get the prettiest. But I must also confess that this was not so much due to my own good taste as to the discrimination and cleverness of a lady wit

kind of business tha

ge sums of money, and whose night-bell was well known in the whole thickly-settled neighborhood in which she lived. But Mrs. Rose Pape took not only a warm interest in young wives, but very consi

tty girl, and had charged her, Rose, to help him, without regard to expense. She had already formed a plan, but she was in need of a valet of specia

s; I seized, therefore, with eagerness the opportunity of leaving the capital for a time in such good company. Twenty-four hours later I was on my way, acco

your life? I thought you were going to tell me how you got to Grenwitz," said Albe

e corner of his left eye across the rim of his tumbler; "for my new master was Baron

es, than Albert did as soon as he heard the last words. He had instantly recognized in Toby Goodheart the valet who had played so ambiguous a part

I should not have expected s

u, Albert mine, it was a merry life we were leading at Castle Grenwitz in the year of the Lord eighteen hundred and twenty-two. Wine and women in abu

s there

you the baron had engaged h

s w

with both eyes and bo

ith these eyes of mine--I have never seen the like of her. What was I going to say? Yes! Marie had made a conditio sine qua non, as we scholars say, that an old lady of the baron's family should be

sked Albert, who did not want to hear

various things which happened to fall into our hands to keep us company in going away with us. Here in Grunwald we parted, or rather we were separated. For I was taken so sick--probably in consequence of the high living we had enjoyed at Grenwitz--that I could not go on, and had to be carried to the hospital. What I then thought was a great misfortune, turned out afterwards to b

r anything more of yo

re profitably than ever. If you ever go up to town, Albert mine, you must not forget

ntering the address in his note-book. "But what has be

rious at the whole story that he died soon after from sheer anger. But the most curious part of the whole is this: Just imagine! Rose has hardly taken up her busines

t, forgetting for a momen

fun of the thing. First, she is great aunt; and then--ha! ha! ha!" Toby was so very much

good! Ha, ha, ha! Perhaps Mrs. Rose

the newspapers a very liberal reward for any information concerning Marie's present residence, etc. I think she was afraid of the consequences, and has done as I have done--kept her c

ats to-night!" cried Albert, starting up. "Why, this is foundatio

nt to work drowning his anger in his favorite beverage--a plan in which he succeeded so well that the watchman, who was sent about midnight to fetch the key of the

k T

PTE

incessant dancing; and how all of them could find pleasure in meeting night after night precisely the same company, for the circle which was thus kept in constant commotion was quite limited, and consisted of perhaps twenty or twenty-five families, including the highest military and civil officials, the family of the commandant of the fortress, Grunwald, his excellency von Bostelmann, and t

band. The former claimed that Emily had become crazy because of Arthur's faithlessness; the latter insisted upon it that, on the contrary, Arthur had been made crazy by his wife's faithlessness and was, in this state of mind, seeking consolation in the arms of his former favorite, Hortense B

ions between Prince Waldenberg and Helen Grenwitz, which had been already canvassed by everybody, and which yet, far from being exhausted

was engaged to His Highness, Prince Raimund Walden

mily of Grenwitz could be satisfactorily settled. Besides, the public announcement of the engagement was to take place in the capital, to which the prince was to return

also this last one? Did she not owe it solely to her own prudence, moderation, and discretion that she, the simple nobleman's daughter, who had no fortune whatever, had become Baroness Grenwitz and mother-in-law of Prince Waldenberg? Had she not had to struggle through all her life, not only with circumstances, but also with those who stood nearest to her

upon their faces. The prince's dark countenance looked a shade darker, and his black eyes rested often with a strange, inexplicable meaning upon the fair, haughty features of his betrothed, who walked about in startling silence, very pale, and looking much mo

ns who were called in declared at once that, this time, they could not answer for the result. From that moment Helen had been chained to

interrupted the stillness. No one happened to be near the patient but Helen. She was sitting near the bed, holding her father's withered hand t

ther?" he as

gone to h

--and the

him to ta

e!--that's it! Now giv

rness and decision, so that it was evident he had long contemplated

rt; but I believe it is very rare to find the two together, or to see them stay togeth

, not her, only myself. I ought to have taken a wife who was more suitable to my age and to my ways; but I was vain and proud, and I wanted a handsome, stately, and clever wife, such as the world admires, and your mother was handsome, stately, and clever; far t

his gray head sa

ht and felt in the most important and most sacred things so very differently; and whether I was right or she, that does not matter now; but, my

words the tears were rolling

hands trembled. Her father's words h

hen you could not decide; now you have decided. I cannot conceal it from you that I cannot understand the prince, and that I wish your future husband were less grand and less rich; but, as it is, I hope God will turn it to the best. You are a good, clever girl, and I think you cannot

not let your eyes be dazzled by Mammon! You do not love the prince? You have not followed the voice of your heart, which warned you against the stern dark man, but the counsels of your mother? Oh, my child! my unf

elf with spasmodic

his horrible labyrinth, in which she had lost herself? Could the step, the fatal step, be retraced? At what price? At the price of

staken, father! I am not unhappy! I have not been dazzled and tempted! I

sm; her pale lips moved, but were unable to shape the

Do not let your father leave this world with such a terrible doubt on his mind

fell back o

d him in

you ask; for I will tell the p

egan to tremble; cold pers

hed back to the bed, but the cold hands trembled no longer: the rolling eyes were fixed. Whatever help might come now, it came too late; and Helen threw hers

PTE

gle dash, the question of credit and debit had been most act

e was not displeased with the prospect. It is true, her savings from the revenues of the entailed estates, which had so far benefitted herself and Helen, and which, after the baron's death, had to be carried to the principal till Malte came of age, would be lost;

ing to her satisfaction, and if Gre

said, in a low voice, and casting a glance at the direct

itten with pain by the trembling

may come, it is high time for me to enlighten you on the subject of the * * * affair. * * * has not been satisfied, as I told you. He has a right to demand four hundred dollars a month till the claim to Uncle Harald's legacy expires by prescription, a

aithfull

a little longer. Moses Hirsch has a note of mine for one thousand doll

h began to grow dark. This twilight was most favorable for a face which was downright disfigured by anger. She murmured curses against Felix, against Albert, against Oswald, through her teeth. "Not a farthing the sc

s to wait upon y

d like a threat. All of a sudden she lost all desire to tell Mr

be able to see him; the baron h

st see you on very important business,

r bring lights; and--John, stay in the

, ma

in Albert Timm, and then went

and pardons if I interrupt you. The old gentleman is sick, they tell me! I hope it is not much. I should have gone away again, but I have to in

ir toward the baroness, and the next

But she felt very clearly that it would not be very easy to get the better of him. Sh

ief as possible; the sad state of things her

initiated into the whole story of the elopement. Now they are quite ready, I dare say, to appear as witnesses in a suit which might possibly arise out of the question of the legacy. The evidence of these two persons would be all the more weighty as they are both persons of excellent standing in society, and enjoy the confidence of a large circle of friends and acquaintances. One of them is sexton here in town--a man who is u

wrath, it was the manner in which Albert Timm was presenting to her the topic which she so bitterly h

Timm, why you honor me w

han a bird on a tree, and that a man who sells his property for less than its value is entitled to the name of a fo

ely for the purpose of getting rid of you; and my nephew assured me, shortly before he left us, that the matter was finally se

ecided and incisive manner: "Pray, keep your seat for a moment longer,

s own. After all, it does not matter much whether you know the former agreement; for I have come for the very purpose of telling you that, after what I have recently discovered, I am no longer disposed

a Maria, rising from her seat and seizing the

well what you are about to do! If we cease to be good friends we become mortal enemies, and

ose behind him came the prince. The servant placed the lights on the table and went out

ought the servant said you were alon

to say to this young man." And she made a motion with her hand

th hands behind his back, and said with imperturbab

e to repeat my last question in

e, somewhat astonished at Albert's mann

nds for money, under the pretext of possessing certain pretended family secrets.

his lofty figure, went slowly towards the tab

t entered

an out!" sai

ll of embarrassment, first at the prince and then at Mr. Albert Timm, who was still standing quietly

latter, contracting his br

ame a step ne

, "and prefer, on that account, to go myself. As for you, baroness, we shall see each other again shortly, but upon a different footing; and as for you, young m

s sword in the hall. Albert did not wait for any further measures on the p

been treated in this way, looked agh

appened at home, in Ru

at accident should have made you w

t re-entered the room, deadly

e quickly! The

the baroness, and seemed

aid the prince. "Bear what has to be borne. Wi

TER

ming to busy idlers. The two gentlemen who met at this favorite lounging place of the jeunesse dorée of Grunwald, were Cloten and Barnewitz. The former, who excelled in all the arts

en, triumphantly, after having finish

billiard-table; "am not in the right humor for it to-da

ave the l

ther day! We can pl

e looking-glass and twisted his blonde moustache, wh

he said; "don't know how on ear

take a

o abomina

e at p

tires

le of c

that's

ttle of Picho

n threw himself into an arm-chair opposite

el

el

ou know

Do

N

use of exhaustion, and the ship of conversation remained for a quarter of an hour

old lover, and Cloten had at that time already discovered that happiness in the arms of his former lady-love was far more attractive than the honor of being the husband of the most fashionable lady in town. Barnewitz, on the other hand, gave the noble couple ample opportunity for meeting; for he threw himself, at Grunwald, head foremost into a vortex of amu

led the town about him and his wife. The day before he had accidentally heard of some new scandal, and to-day Cloten's

our wife,

plied Cloten, not a little ast

o inquire after your wife! Or do y

but what d

so very charming for

ked Cloten, slightly embarrass

y badly, that one could not help wondering at the sudden change. At all ev

nose," said Cloten; and his hand trembl

but they d

he whol

ut something else;--I only thought that, as your oldest frie

tory," said Cloten, with nervous v

ay anything more, if the first w

, he dashed his glass upon the table, so that the foo

it amount to? They say that you are not exactly Darby and Joan; that your wife has her own w

say

hole w

u belie

hrugged his

ur wife acts looks very suspicious to me. I should not wonder, and no one in our circ

tell me all you know," said

the company is low enough but the wine excellent. There were a dozen people--authors, actors, and such stuff--sitting round a table and drinking; among them our old friend Timm the surveyor, who talked very big. I sat down at some distance, ordered a few dozen oysters and a bottle of champagne, and listened, because I could not help listening. They talked, heaven knows what stuff. I did not understand a word, and was just thinking what a lot of sheep they all were, and my eyes were beginning to be heavy, when I sudde

do it?" asked

; I have had to pay for it often enough," replied the philoso

Cloten cried out with much veheme

hrugged his

e best for

't have it!" exclaim

says," replied Barnewitz,

says nothing about you?"

"---- the fellow who dares say a word; and I think you, o

't see why I should no

hands into his pockets with an air of contempt "I suppo

oor of the billiard-room had not opened just then to admit Professor Jager, who crep

the drooping corners of the mouth, contrasted with his effort to give an air of solemnity to his forehead, and to look as melancholy as possible through his spectacles, so t

e two noblemen, made a

am disturbing the entente cordi

who welcomed the interruption; "join us

you in your cozy talk; but I heard at your house, Baron Cloten, that I sho

d Barnewitz. "I'll go into the

I have only t

t. Call me when

e rested his elbows on the table and his head on his hands, and

rofessor Jager turned to Cloten a

to tell you something

thoroughbreds, had perished in the flames. The professor did not leave him long in this terrible uncertainty; but with a low, sp

n. "What is it? W

s and produced a folded-up piece of paper]. I found it just now on my wife's writing-table. But befo

d Cloten, with nervous excitement.

uzzled me sorely. Their meetings, I was told, had a purely poetical purpose--you know my wife is president of the Lyric Club--but I was struck by the fact t

ow! Go on," said Cl

t detain you by telling you how the first spark of suspicion fell into my simple soul; how subsequent observations fanned this into a bright flame, which threatened to consume this heart of mine, that only beats for the welfare of my brethren

e point," said Cloten, who was standin

a poem, which I found quite wet yet on my wife's bureau; the servant tol

!" cried Cloten, who hard

nearer, and read, in a half-loud, rattling voice, while the young nobleman was looking

M OF AN ESCAP

he light of the

light through

las I would bre

tched over you

onds have forg

bondage will h

I stay in Cim

chaste and full of affection," said the professor, who

ose sufferings made him indiffer

essor co

the icicles gl

thunder on q

rightened by

e lurings of

ou do what is p

remain with a

wood on a co

" said Cloten, furious

nly!" said the pro

d yonder on ro

amiliar hous

a moment the

u before, and

n a thousand

n caresses and

amiliar hous

d alas 'tis no

e no more nor

e safe, to th

you milder an

banks of the

at freedom,

society's ha

up the paper again, p

uch more startled yet, when I went on using a husband's right and examined the papers that were scattered all over her table.

to embrace you once more? I shall be at home at three. I should like to see you so much, but--can you venture to come without rousing suspicion? I leave the matter to you. Good-by, good-by, dearest! Free to-day! Oh, I can hardly conceive such happiness! Good-by--a

going to do, he broke down, and walked up and do

ding his hands in sympathetic emotion; but he had the air of an ear-owl, gazing

is morning Doctor Black, one of the trustees of the college, came to see me, and to tell me that Doctor Clemens had called for an official inquiry into the conduct of the terrible man, which could not fail to end in his dismissal--his dismissal in disgrace. And while I was still considering how we could best make it known to all the world that he was a wolf in she

denly; and he made a motion as if he were go

ofessor, "are you going to ruin me? Consider, I pray,

ly would not have me go into such

said the latter, look

I have something im

hat the matter was, while the professor stood

see it all now. I knew she was going over to Ferry town again to-day; and now I remember she said, contrary to her usual way, she would not be back before ni

do?" said Barnewi

e an unheard-of scandal, which even now, I think,

must not let them get off; but I cannot pre

d Barnewitz. "I never

emen. You must go to work at

l tell you on the way what I think we had better do

sor. "To be sure, my time is very limited now; very limi

tlemen hastily le

PTE

t and west of the town, there were crowds of pedestrians to be seen among numerous sleighs, which were often drawn by two and not unfrequently even by four horses. But when the sun had set and the mists were thickening, the moving black thread which connected by day the town with the little village of Ferrytown became thinner and thinner. The fishermen, who have been out fishing miles away, come in on their low sledges; or, standing upright on their sleighs, and pushing them with a long iron-shod pole, they sweep by, one by one, drifting with marvellous swiftness through the gray fog, like ghosts of the desert, like spirits from the northern regions. And now lights are s

and fogs and mists began to cover the fields of ice. There was but a single passenger sitting in the sleigh by

assenger or driver; but when they rode out on the wild desert of ice, when the lights in town were looking dim, an

order,

handsome youth, turning,

eard from y

r Barow punctually at five. He has his two best horses. T

I want, if you know

I should not advise any one who does no

y n

where they stop the Ferrytown holes begin. You see nothing b

p which he could never retrace, a step which was to decide not only his own fate--that mattered little--but also the fate of another being, a woman, who had won a right to his love by her own sacrificing love, a woman who had given up rank and riches, and every advantage which her birth and her social position gave her, for the sole purpose of being his, and who now was waiting for him in anxiety and anguis

Claus's sharp ears had already discovere

he said, turning a little to the right. "They

ipped through the darkness like a flash of lightning. As they passed

he track,

ead?" was Cl

in the s

rong enough fo

our!" repl

ank

lco

gh moved on

ht I heard Oldenburg's voice. What s

rights were shining in the houses up on the bluffs. Below, near the ferry, where an inn was standing,

ped; Oswal

, "and wait for you there. But make haste. In half an hour t

. We shall not k

crack in the shutters which protected the low window there came a faint ray of light. Oswald gave three measured knocks against the shutter. Immediately the door was opened cautiously. Oswald sl

st! at

y? Why, I come

early dead wit

rything

es

see you whe

ted upon coming with me. I could not ge

e f

We owe her much;

ow our enemi

quite unsuspicious. I told I him I w

e Primula was standing by a table, making tea. A

ast moment! A cup of tea, some rum,

disengaging himself from Primul

ng the tea into a cup. "You know, Oswald, it is cold witho

d her voice, she sat down on a settee, pressed her hand on

t be strong now. Drink, friends, drink; and then o

journey; "Mrs. Jager is right; a cup of tea will do no har

swald, taking the cup she wa

words when somebody knocked

t each other

" cried

hat is Arthur!" said

into the adjoining chamber, after having in vain

We are not so easily caught h

window and said,

ten here? I have imp

, "Make haste and get away; I will try t

's hand, through the hall to the back door, which opened upon the sea. A flight of s

aid Oswald when the

pened it cautiously. Everything was quiet. The

here," whispere

g, evidently by somebody who had been standing behind it, who now, as if to cut

tantly by the aid of the starlight and the sheen of the snow that

t they shall pay for it. Quick Emily

leaping upon Oswald, and seizing h

ich the fishermen use in propelling their sleds, and of which several were standing in the corner. He struck his adversary with

ily, and putting his arm around her w

of the narrow beach

y in and fo

e said; "drive fast. It is

ongue and the crop-

. I saw two men get out and climb up the bluff. I was just going to follow them and to warn you, when you were comi

nd; "there they are coming. It seems these bulls do not fall at one blow, and

nd you, in

one of the two pistols tha

going to do?" said Emily, who had not utt

first man who

od! oh

e yet. He will forgive you, I am sure, if you turn back no

turn back? Rather dead a

me too," mur

before the sleigh of his pursuers. He had a start of a few thousand yards, but that could not avail much, as the distance from Ferrytown to the village of Barow was over a mile. There

vertake us?" asked Oswald, bending down to the little

ourself l

f I su

le we meet with! Better at the bot

u quite

live, and as

and kissed the be

sembling a long-drawn sigh, which is produced when an object moves with great rapidity over a plain of ice. As far as the eye reached nothing but the fearful solitude of a plain covered with a thin layer of snow, and the dark night lowering over it like a leaden cover. Even the stars were now hid by a light

ld an eternity. He looked ahead for the shore, but nothing could be seen yet; he looke

it, Claus,"

is no such horse to be found far and near. We are some twenty sleigh-owners in Ferrytown, and thirt

s master, he shook his cropped mane, and cut with h

are uncom

s la

d it; and then they are afraid of the air-holes. In a few minut

h ice, or to be frightened by the black water of the air-holes; at all events, Clauses prophecy began to become true almost as soon as he had uttered it. Although it was dawning brighter and brighter on the horizon, the black sp

round and showing his white teeth, "that there

n. The icy north wind whistled around their ears as it swept mournfully and plaintively over the snow-covered fields. Oswald and Emily held each other in close embrace. Glad to have escaped the danger, t

PTE

s trembling, such as befalls men when they are suddenly roused from deep sleep by a dazzling light, and do not know exactly where to find their head; and at the same time they feel a secret horror of the night in which they have so long slept an unnatural sleep--a confused idea that, after all, the golden light of the sun is

ld readily dare interrupt or trouble, aroused in the assembled crowds a sense of exuberant self-respect, a very unusual festive excitement. Then the blue sky of early spring looked so lovely; the slender, leafless branches and twigs of the trees in the park were so clearly defined against the clear background, and the evening sun was shining warm and hopeful down upon the thousands who crowded the vast open space between the coffee-houses and the river on one side, and the park on the other side. The pressure was especially great near the wooden stand on the edge of the park, which was ordinarily occupie

, like that of a man who is too busy with his thoughts to lay much stress upon external forms; and his clothes, which were made after the last fashion, and of the very best material, hung so easily and comfortably on his spare form that one could easily see the owner believed in the doctrine that clothes were made for men, and not men for clothes. The appearance of his companion was perhaps even more striking. He was nearly a head shorter than his tall friend, but much broader in the shoulders. And yet he stooped like a man who has spent half of h

e it?" asked the man

y," replied

eople will ever dare ven

y n

inful feeling of their own insignificance. See how the people, at the very hour when they hear liberty and justice eloquently discussed, still have time

e of the golden sunlight which at last shines o

o the sky; but when the first balmy air of spring plays around us, and the sky is blue once more, we long to see the green ocean of leaves twittering and rustling in

fast! You have se

some time looked at the two gentlemen as if he did

eally you,

r, letting go Oldenburg's arm, and offering hi

ory. If you will come with me a little

d Berger to Oldenburg, an

erfectly harmless nature. To judge by his appearance the man was not exactly well-to-do. His gray felt hat had evidently seen many a stormy day before it had been reduced to its forlorn condition. The black velvet coat, very shabby and covered with rusty-looking frogs, had evidently seen better days; so also

nburg's sharp eye saw how Berger pulled out his purse and pressed a few pieces of money in the han

hat strang

spoken to you: Director Ca

me so at once. I should like to make the acquaint

g but misfortune. First, his clown died; then his first artist ran away; and the others he has been compelled to dismiss on a

am under obligations to him. Besides, he seems to be a good fellow. But let us

ight hair from his white, well-shaped forehead, he looked more like a precocious boy who has put on spectacles for fun, than like a man who has a right to address thousands. If the finely-cut features had something aristocratic, his more than modest cost

hand? Well, gentlemen, we are exactly like that foolish man. The arrow in the quiver is the petition with the nine articles, as we modestly call the just demands of a nation; the deputation chosen from among us, which is to present the address to-morrow to the king, is the feeble hand. How far will

them the gentleman in the shabby velvet coat, who had pushed his way close to the platform, and who had listened to the speaker with great delight, which he tried to express by nods, grunts, a

by these signs of dissatisfactio

bow is? We are the bow; I mean the whole assembly. If we went four, five, or six thousand, as many as we are here, in close phalanx, and carried the petition, our speaker ahead, up to the pa

hissed and whistled and cried from all sides. It was only with great difficulty that the president, a man in a broad-brimmed hat and with a long beard, who looked somewhat like an author,

show you what manner of men you are. Pioneers of freedom, my predecessor called you. Yes, indeed! Freedom will be much benefited

d brought down the storm which had been brewing for some time. "Down with

siastically as soon as he came down from the platform, declaring himself thus openly his friend and protector. No one seemed to desire engaging in a fight with a

ce of the "Booths" into the park. As soon as they were alone the man in the velvet coat on

d to make the acquaintance

rp glance from his blue eyes, and pushing his spectacles with his finger higher up

tepped back, threw his chest out,

Caspar Schmenck

; "glad to make your acquaintanc

st?" said Mr. Schmen

ked Mr. Timm

rows a very heavy object with both hands straight up i

e director had been gathering his laurels; "pardon me that I was not personally

ry different from these poor creatures hereabouts. You speak as you think; as you feel in your heart. C

honor of your acquaintance. I presume you are p

Schmenckel just now in floribus, I have been compelled by many reasons to disband my old troupe, and I am jus

living in

rm from time to time before a few friends; but,

cour

ight in a very noble locality, where I meet the ver

re ver

rodigiously little water, I should think. Ha, ha, ha! I have been a daily guest at the 'Dismal Hole' ever since the wint

dee

acquainted with her. Mrs. Ro

ddenly asked Mr. Timm,

ose Pape is a

e had taken the bus

idwife. The French revolutio

is ori

ness; and when the trouble commenced in Paris, she said: 'Now golden days are coming

s to make the acquaintan

ing from the city into the park. It could not be avoided; the crowds met and filled the narrow passages of the great gate immediately before the guard-house, where a company of soldiers was standing with arms grounded. The people gazed and wondered at the unusual sight. Others pushed their way up to see what was the matter. In an instant the guard-house was surrounded by hundreds of men standing in a

and in an instant t

ite effect to what had been intended. Those who stood nearest could not move back, and those behind had only become more cu

his way between the idlers a

to say a w

do you

I have the honor to a

see you again, baron, after so many years. Come i

lf. You have a simple and infallible means to induce these pe

is t

retire into th

e such a concession to the rabble

all upon the peo

o open negotiations

permit me

e officer, leaving Oldenb

wards the close semi-circle and s

to obey orders, and no questions allowed. Don't, therefore, force your fellow-citizens, who are here under arms, to turn agains

ered citizen from the head of the c

wly, good Austrians, now!" the dense crowd gradually got into motion, especially as at that mo

achment was marching on a level on the opposite side of the street--was an officer of gigantic stature, whose dark, threatening mien announced the firm determination to punish the slightest resistance instantly and without mercy. Everybody had so timidly given way before him, as he marched down at the head of his men, that he seemed to be justified in smiling contemptuously whenever such an event occurred. But now he c

er, marching into the crowd w

hers pressed back upon them. A short confusion arose

d the officer, in s

f!" cried a young

on him, seized him by the collar and tossed him, by a slight

t the

young man, who tried i

n if he resists!"

idding if at that moment Mr. Schmenckel had not

our excellency, or

igantic size, surprisingly alike in their tall figure, their full chest and ample shoulders, with long, muscular arms;

ied to move a rock from its place as the man in the velvet-coat. The blow sounded dull on the broad chest--that was all; but at the same time the man extended his powerful arms, seized the officer around the

iring the display of physical strength.

the prisoner with one great effort from out of the confused heap of men, and before the office

had been able in the meantime to break t

ith a voice shrieking with rage: "Le

sing with lowered bayonets into the crowd.

PTE

e mere sight of an approaching force, merely however to reassemble at another temporarily safe point, and arrests were made in large numbers. The inhabitants of

window, a bright cage with a canary bird hung between the curtains, and flowers were seen all about in pots and in vases, so that everything bespoke the presence of a lady, although the inevitable work-stand was not to be seen. The man was not exactly young, although even the bald places at the temples would har

ctly satisfied with

would have been d

ied herself with the flowers. The gentleman looked at her kindly through the g

y dear friend; you must be so;--y

as reasonable as I look. But now let us speak of some

although, quite entre nous, a married student is a very remarkably amphibious creature--as because she w

evening--you recollect Bemperlein, when you appeared as author--when you kissed each other in the bay-window, when we drank the old hock, and pa afterwards gave hi

tion which threatened to overc

I was weak enough to become quite jealous of the little one when I saw, in papa's letters, how very fo

s indebted to him alone for her trousseau and the furnishing of our house, both of which

t it. What amazed me most was, that Timm s

effort. The whole affair has caused me, entre nous, a good deal of heart-ache; and little reason as I have to like Mr. Timm, I have still been quite sorry when I heard soon

as my old admirer reall

old ad

all with whom I talked or danced. He is an extremely clever man, and can be most agreeable when he chooses to be

ness which used to overcome me in Grunwald every time I heard the name mentioned. He doe

since you all rise in arms against him, and since even Franz, who used to excu

her softest notes! Pauvre homme! I should like to know what sensible man would think so of him. If a man rushes madly through life, acting not upon principle but upon impulse; if he must needs gratify all his caprices, and if

avo! You could not preach better if you were yourself the happy neighb

ne? The earth seems to

unlucky husband be

short time, but has inflicted the same injury on his neighbor's house that he himself suffered. Baron Barnewitz, Frau von Berkow's cousin--the one with the red beard, you know, and the broad shoulders. Oh, you must have seen him. No? Well, it does not matter--Eh bien! Baron Barnewitz comes home the other day at an unseasonable hour and finds--so gossip has it--the door to

at must have been for the

reat as when Helen Grenwitz beca

is

ny--is to be celebrated here in the city in a few days. Anna Maria

eeping up your relati

we must acknowledge also that her position is a very peculiar one. If she procures Helen a rich husband, she does after all only what every mother in her position would do likewise. And her circumstances are by no means as brilliant as they think. Since her husband's death she has nothing but a comparatively

kind of necessity in the meaning of these people, althoug

hy

mebody else when she accepted the prince. Would to God she had been l

ride that no man can bend, perhaps not even fate. She w

r Frau von Berkow and Baron Oldenburg are living on very intim

e children. That is all. Then they are neighbors, and must needs see each other frequently--is not that perfectly natural? Why could not they marry each other if they liked it? Instead of that the baro

caught a glimpse of a tall, elegant man with a

arge blue eyes brightening up and her cheeks

. Bemperlein, lookin

ld it together in the middle,

rwards the door of the room opened,

Bemperl

see him

gentleman's hat; and, besides, the folds of the heavy curtain arranged in a m

he

ded to Mr. Planke as director of his chemical manufactory, so that he has actually engaged him with a salary of a thousand a year and five per cent, of the clear receipts. He is a perfect Don Giovanni of a Bem

leman, opening the cur

embraced with

asked Franz after the most importan

d Bemperlein

burg and Fra

ting an embarrassed look at Sophie, and

aris and witnessed the whole revolution? They are staying at the Hotel de Russie Unter den Linden. I have advised Frau von Berkow, if she has not very pressing business here, to leave the city, because we shall in all probability have very troublesome times soon. Albert street is full of people, swarming to and fro like an ant-hill in uproar. Aids and orderlies are galloping through the streets at full speed. At the corner of Albert and Bear streets they had actually guns in position. Under the Lindens, they say, there has actually been a collision, and an officer of the gua

o order supper. The two friends sat down on the sofa and discussed their own an

TER

arter of the city, and very modest in the day. It shone forth at night by means of a blood-red lamp, which looked up and down the street invitingly until the sun came and extinguished it. During all these hours it seemed to be irresistibly attractive to many people; at least it was almost always crowded with customers. Thus it was on this evening also. There was scarcely a vacant chair in the four or five large rooms which formed the "Dismal Hole." Eliza, Bertha, and Pauline, the three pretty waiters, had their hands full in bringing the beer to each thirsty guest, and i

ere half hid in fat, and the short and square fingers of the plump white hands; and only the experienced observer could discover that the brown hair which adorned abundantly the head of the matron c

r and near, and they were delighted when the good lady left her place behind the bar and made a tour through the whole basement. Here she would familiarly clap an acquaintance on the shoulder, or welco

and putting their heads close together whispered so eagerly that it was evide

s of the strong gentleman in the velvet coat; "it seems to me you look rather warm. Do not drink t

," said the director, with stammering tong

ose, and her eyes did not look very kindly at h

"he happens just now to be somewhat excited by an encounter he had an hour ago Under the Lindens. However, I am particularly delighted, m

here was something in his whole appearance, an

ve I the hono

tle table. "My name is Albert Timm, from Grunwald. I have a letter of introduction to you from an old friend, who sends his kindest regards. May I be perm

searching glance at the stranger, looked all around the room to see that she was unobs

enwitz that will make you open your eyes wide. If you and Jeremiah will help him, we can, I am sure, help a certain gentleman to his inherit

r reading the letter twice, and folding it up carefully to put it in he

e hand-writing is

at the proper time. I hope you will grant me, to-night, the favor and the honor of a

icer people might have been shocked by the air of vulgar impertinence with which it was flavored. She returned the familiar

so drunk or so absorbed in his thoughts that he had paid little or no attent

meet. But what does that amount to? I have a great respect for Master Accident, for he has helped me over and over again out of many a predicament when all cleverness and wisdom were at fault. And this accident is too famous not to be something more than a mere accident. And what is the great wonder, after all? You court, twenty-two years ago, a frivo

asked Mr. Schmenckel, and

t is enough for you. And suppose th

nckel, striking the table with his gigantic hand

fully, put them on again, looked laughingly at Director

u become disagreeable, and look as if you were going to beat me. I only meant to say this: Suppose the man is not your son, then, that also does not matter much. We can only try. We can ask if the prince

he police?" asked Mr. Schmenckel

e is no better ally for people like us than a bad conscien

haps also with too much beer, his head began to glow. Suddenly a thought occurred to him which mi

t, after all, is the

ther? Is there no such thing in the world as gratitude? If you insist absolutely upon being a poor devil for the rest of your life instead of living in your own house with an annuity of a

o make me the father of a live prince. But that I should have such a grand son, and that I should have whipped him so unmercifully the very f

nce; that I alone happen to know him from former times; that I remember his name, mention it to you, and thus call up in your mind a remembrance which helps

hmenckel was not the man to reflect deeply on the relations in which he stood to this man; but still, he had an indistinct feeling about it. As he was looking at him thus, he felt a decided inclination to give the young man a hear

rge cities, and there also rarely or never in the day-time and on the streets. Men in shabby, often fantastic costumes, with dissipated and yet attractive features, and with eyes which now blazed up in wild passion, and now gloated stolidly on vacancy--strange figures, who tell the knowing eye without opening their lips long stories of proud plans and childish deeds, of g

sitting with the landlady around one of the small tables over a bottle of champagne. One of these men was Albert Timm, from Grunwald; the other was a man of middle age, who had only come about an hour ago, and whom Mrs. Rose had introduced to Mr. Timm as the brother of his landlord in Grunwald, Mr. Jeremiah Goodheart. From his clothes and his who

rsing very eagerly, and Mr. Timm

egister at St. Mary's; or, better still, obtain a certified copy of the entry; and, s

is to be here?" asked th

had had literary engagements when he was a student here, and where he has therefore the best prospect of finding some means of support for himself and his sweet one. Only I think he will not appear under his true name, so as not to expose himself to disagreeabl

n the head of the man with the odd eyes; "and now, gentlemen, I believe it is time we should part. Tomorrow is ano

have not perhaps a snug little place for him somewh

pinching Mr. Timm's cheeks

so--with

lady, evidently not unwil

ed to Mr. Schmenckel and began to shake him, first gentl

half asleep yet; "let me

" asked the man w

Mr. Timm, "give me a glass of water, Li

t now, and, as Mr. Goodheart happened to know where he lived, the task of carrying him home seemed feasible. Mr. Timm seized him

them a hundred thousand roubles as soon as it should be fully established that Prince Waldenberg, whom he had whipped that day under the Lindens, was really his own son. Thus they reached the street, then the house, and at last even the little bed-room in which Director Caspar Schmenckel, from Vienna, was residing for the present. Mr. Schmenckel sank down

ess," said Timm, when they were in the stree

" interrupted Mr. Jeremiah Goodheart, closing h

rvously retreating a step. "How can you

he great meeting at the Booths can long

o whom?"

ther within the four walls of your house, especially for the sake of our little af

tical martyr? I have given the good people a speech because I

er," said the

his companion, and all of a sudden he understood the enigma

have heard your brother say that you are a highl

h the odd e

id not tell you any such thing, for he knows nothing about it; nor did Rosalie tell

restored to his former sense of security by this proof of

depend on yo

w s

swer his question, but said, as they

at eleven o'clock. Then we will

or a while down the lonely streets, while the gr

TER

rning on the table; lighted wax-candles were standing on the mantel-piece and on the consoles. Frau von Berkow expected other v

and turning with a kindly smile to Oldenburg. "I talk to you of the children, how hearty the boy ha

ably; at least I feel so, from head to foot;" replied

ought, on the contrary, you looked

Melitta, I am qu

ought would be a pleasant surprise to you; bringing you the children too. For your sake, I say; so that we might see and talk unobserved. For this reason only I have taken ro

hought has occurred to me really mo

that she did not exactly know whether she ought

in uncertainty. He sat down again

o arrange matters in this way, and many an affection is even now fading away for the same reason. Thus it is with my love for you. As matters stand I can only live for you, care and work for you, in trifles; but not at every hour, every minute, as I must do, if I am to be happy. In the country, where we, as neighbors, could often spend half of a day together, without being observed and watched, it was easier; and yet, even there, the feeling of my uselessness was so painful to me that I was grateful for the political storm which drove me to Paris, where I could at least imagine that nothing parted us but distance. But here, in a large city, the painful feeling overcomes me; it looks to me as if the moment at which we meet had been expressly chosen to show that the relations between us are unnatural and false. We

onvincingly as he could. He had bent over Melitta, who held her beautiful head bowed low; when he

r sake, for my sake, for all our

you not

u k

s? Are you not now to me what you have always been? And, if there must be a reckoning between us, have you not to forgive and forget far more in me than I in you? Is it reasonable to sacrifice the wife to a rigorous moral law, which the husband does not consider binding? Who has made tha

om saying: Take me; I am yours, now and forever!--have pity on me, it makes me suffer as much as yourself. But Adalbert, I am a woman; and a woman can wait and hope for the

voice, and Oldenburg felt that it would be cruel to pr

fer from obstinacy. That is enough for me. And then the day of release

itors. Melitta passed her handkerchief over her face, while Oldenburg advan

irst words. Sophie noticed that Melitta appeared much milder and gentler than she had expected from the great lady; and Melitta observed, on the other hand, that Sophie did not look half as serious and thoughtful as Bemperlein had made her believe of the clever and highly educated daughter of the privy councillor. Sophie saw also Baron Oldenburg for the first time, and she cast from her seat on the sofa many a trying glance at the tall man in black, who stood in the centr

Bemperlein's assurances she had persisted in believing that there were close relations between them. But Melitta was too much of a lad

time for politics. But he was liberal in all respects, and besides, his profession had given him frequent opportunities to become acquainted with the wants of the people themselves, and an insight which had convinced him of the necessity of an entire change of social relations. He was not quite as clear about the doctrine that this could not be done without first changing the political forms of the state, especially because his

nse to-night also to Oldenburg, bu

ladies, the Romans used to call it--and to the difference between a sensible and an unwise form of government. I wish you could have heard the dis

in. "I had half promised Mrs. Braun that

said Melitta; "do y

my arm, and could not find him again in the crowd.

me, and from the lips of a man who was once very dear to me, and in whom you also, as far as I know, once took a very lively interest? You need not beat the devil's tattoo on the table, Bemperlein; I know that you, who are generally as

e blush which suddenly spread over Melitta's cheeks so that she bent low over her work in order to conceal it; and the vehemence wi

g; "would you relentlessly condemn a man whose greatest mi

udged. I have always sincerely admired the brilliant talents which nature has lavished upon that man, and I have as sincerely regre

looked as eagerly up to him as if she wished to read him to the bottom of his soul. Franz was still too warmly int

t you are a physician for the sick, and not for the healthy, who, Bemperlein, need no physician. Berger and Stein are two characters strikingly alike in talents and temper. How else could they have formed so close a f

d with Oswald, "that Berger has successfully rid himself of the alp of his disease, which was evidentl

e recovery of Professor Berger; but I am bound to say, as a medical man, that I do not consider a relapse yet out of question. An

that be fearful

that it will be so; I

ing peculiar in Berger?" asked

ds me of the restlessness of a lion who walks growling up and down behind the bars of his cage. Minutes seem to grow into hours to him, and hours into days. I have told him in vain that the history of great ideas counts only by thousands of years. 'I have no time,' is his invariable answ

came a low but steady sound, lou

ushed up. "I know the sound; I heard it just so on the evening o

s long gray hair hung in matted locks around his head; his face and beard were covered with blood, which seemed to come from a wound in his forehead; his coat was torn to pieces, as if sharp inst

r sisters are murdered! Up! up! With these our bare hands we w

ho had already while he was yet speaking begun t

carried their faint

you. Do not be afraid; it amounts to noth

ng became more quiet in proportion as the beatin

PTE

to be her husband). As the luggage was marked "Paris," and the gentleman had spoken French to the lady, the people of the house took it for granted that they were French, especially as the hotel was always full of French travellers. Mrs. Captain Black, the owner of the hotel, had herself shown the strangers

e? When the porter replied that the gentleman had just left, remarking he would be back in an hour, but that madame was, as far as he knew, in her rooms. The young man asked him to show him up at once. The porter--a man of great experience--saw that the young man, who evidently belonged to the higher class

dy--on family business. Will you be good enough to inquire if she receiv

om his pocket and gave the porter a card. It

rbed, that the porter was more convinced than ever that all was not right, and that the interview of the

aid; "there is the ke

till held the c

t and slipping it into the porter's hand, "that the lady is

a large family, and to-morrow the school-

in the passage, on the l

re. He ran up, taking three steps

answered a

one when it beamed with joy and exuberant spirits, as it was wont to do; but now it was pale, and disfigured by much weeping. The large gray eyes stared fixedly at the ground, the beautifully arched brows were painfully contracted, and the lips closed firmly. Mechanically she said "Entrez!" when the waiter knocked to bring

mi

man who stood before her, as if she had been suddenly roused from a deep sleep a

man said once more,

ied, and threw her

ys of their childhood when the brother came home during vac

mily tore herself from her brother's arms, and cried, s

me from? What do

just as you were leaving town, and from whence I have followed you from town to town, from hotel to hotel, without ever succeeding in finding you alone. Not that I am afraid of him!" sai

s sister to seize her

want of me?"

since become intolerable to you! Oh, do not say no! I see it in your eyes, I see it in your dear, pale face, that you are very unhappy! Emily, sister! darling sis

at eloquence which even the simplest of men find when their heart is full of true love. He told her that he did not mean to carry her back to her husband, whom he could not respect, and whom she had married against his wishes

repeated over and over a

an, "is it possible that such a folly can last so

; love him better tha

he room for some time. Then he

your honor--for it is your honor now which is at stake

e violent sobs; and crying

rden? who would give much to get rid of you again? Is this my proud sister? Well, well! I shall have to break my coat of arms

d with his hand, and tears of

ted up fro

u are right! I am a burden to him. He

anked!" sa

resolve of the moment in her usual passionate manner.

af from my pocket-book; pen and ink are

ad only written a few words when she b

said, dropping her p

pen; "I will do it. In the meantime get

few lines. He was not generally very expert in such th

you r

es

down. No o

he porter the k

home, that the lady has gone out an

d put Emily

up with unus

n on its hook on the board; "I thought at once it would be so

PTE

intended the inner arrangements, and pushed them so rapidly, in spite of the magnificent style in which they were carried on, that he could move in with his numerous household before the end of January. He took one wing for himself; the other wing remained unoccupied, as he did not wish

f March for the harbor of Stettin, where the steamer from St. Petersburg was expected in a day or two. At the same time his steward

ove mentioned events had taken place in

he were made to perform the labors of Hercules, the lady, sitting bent and drooping, and wrapped up in costly furs in spite of the blazing fire, might have suggested that even the weight of a fly could have been troublesome to her. Nor was there any resemblance to be traced in the features. Although the lips were languid and the cheeks faded; and although the brow of the lady, who could hardly be over forty, looked narrow between the sunken temples and beneath the dark hair with its numerous silver threads, the connoisseur could still see that these lips and these cheeks must have once been of surpassing beauty, and that the hair once upon a time furnished a frame of glorious curls around a blooming face of marvellous perfection. The large black eyes were very beautiful still, when she ra

ying his mother's feeble hand to his lips. "It is time for me to go,

rothed in my name. Tell her she will find a second mother her

dear m

with God; and may He bless

prince, who then arose and noiselessly

es became darker and darker, and the black eyes stared more fixedly than ever at the blaze in the fire-place, so that they shone like weird fires in the flickering light, and contra

waiting-woman, Nades

she became afterwards a devotee, being sick in body and soul, she was not disposed to dismiss a servant who had always been near her person, and knew, therefore, all her secrets in their minutest detail. And, besides, Nadeska had always been faithful to her, and even made many a sacrifice for her. Only once,

in a tone of voice which betrayed, through all

ll the servants be called together to receive the ladies in the g

lle Virginie; and, among the

he ladies yourself at the door

race any ot

Nad

When she was quite near it, the princess ca

the count this m

your g

erve anythin

yish, and was rouged

ing e

N

ibly afraid he is p

come to see you; and you are especially afraid now, because you

g? What does he want here? But that is not all. He as

hope you

d, as well as my exchequer. Michail t

Consider how mu

e princess, and her large black eyes shone

rugged her

rd which would part mother and son forever, it is not from fear of the disgrace--when has the count ever minded disgrace?--but from fear of p

ctly right, and she groaned like a tortured pri

t that very hour, which was the decisive hour? If I had only had five minutes' warning the count would have found me a

ess and a little back of her. This enabled he

of the count. It was certainly an ugly accident that the birth of the prince took place jus

nes of that mad night passed very clearly before her mind's eye, and the image of the hero of the night--the man of the people, whom she,

alive?" she asked, quite

ka, who knew perfectly well of

its soft characters, for all the lights were burning in rosy shades. This was the only light which the irritable nerves of the princess could endure; and even during the day, which generally only began for her in the afterno

duty slipped into the room and whispered something into he

Nadeska?" ask

to see you," repli

ncess t

said. "He ought to be

ly mistook

m come; but st

ut, after waiting humbly at the door. I

st details. His black hair and brows, his curly beard, his snow-white teeth, his broad shoulders and full hips, were triumphs of art; and if his valet had been able to give a little lustre to his eyes, to calm the paralytic trembling of his hands, and to remove the bad, tiny wrinkles which lay like diminutive snakes around his ey

cess, kissed her hand courteously, and said, while sink

na, that I do not appe

eed

e teeth--"on the contrary, it is the very interest I take in the welfare of the young couple which brings me here, I may say, out of breath. A discovery which I have ma

; but stay in the ante-r

exhausted. Well I might have been offended by your refusal, especially considering the peculiar relations existing between us. But for my part I know how to do with little, and I should not like, for anything in the world, t

aning of your words," replied the princess, si

ands were tightly encased in close-fitting kid-gloves--"perhaps this letter, which was handed me h

his gold eye-glasses on his nose, and read, glancin

example, when you kindly dropped a veil over certain events which took place in the night, from the 21st to the 22d November, 1820, in the Letbus mansion in St. Petersburg. I should like to follow your example, if circumstances permitted. But I have no alternative, and see myself compelled to present my business personally to you, or to trouble certain persons with it, who have special reaso

to limit to eight days from to-

par Schmencke

h me, I may be found every evening after 7 o'clock in

led the count, letting his eye-glass drop,

hing is a poor in

t, with an astonishment which

whole thing, and that I would be caught in such an ill-made snare? That I do not see what it all means? That you have o

no idea, nor can have an idea, e. g., the name of the good man in question. You know I have never been so happy as to hear yet whose blood flows in the veins of my son" (the count's teeth were glittering in a perfectl

n. I insist upon your bringing me this man of straw,

Alexandrina, I hope the interview will take place in my pre

ev

call the man so to w

? I, who picked you

given you my

through every mean vice,

enough for the

e a

nding that too much importance should not be attached to this connection. The whole w

es too f

coming. No doubt, our dear ones. We mus

*

shadow of the unspeakable happiness she had enjoyed last summer, when she stepped from her cool apartments into the golden morning light of the park, and slowly sauntered about between the bright flowers, expecting at every turn around a shrub or a bosquet to meet Oswald! How far, how irrecoverably far, this was lying behind her! As far as the paradise of her childish years, which no longing of ours, no return of spring, can bring back to us! She was quite surprised, herself, that all her thoughts were wandering back to-day to Grenwitz; that a thousand little scenes, which she thought she had long forgotten, came back to her now: a walk with Bruno and Oswald through the fields when the evening sun was hanging low, like a huge ball of fire, near the horizon, and bright lights were playing fitfully over the golden grain, while the larks were jubilant high above them in the deep blue of the heavens. And again, one hot afternoon, when she had fallen asleep on a bench in a shady avenue in the garden, tired by the monotonous humming and whizzing of insects, she awoke at the moment when somebody--it was Bruno--was placing a wreath of dark-red roses on her head, while a few steps from them, somebody else--it was Oswald--wa

le, who had come to her with open hearts, by her cool politeness? How she now wished for good old Miss Bear; for clever, cordial Sophie Roban! But was not Sophie in town? Might she not look up the friend whom she had so sadly neglected during the last days

PTE

become considerable. The last evening had been especially fearful. A detachment of cuirassiers of the guards, galloping forward with loose reins and drawn swords, had driven a large crowd of people into one of the smaller streets that opened upon the square near the palace, and at the other end a picket of dragoons prevented escape. There ensued a scene of fearful confusion and consternation in the crowd, thus hemmed in on both sides, while the men were forcing their horses pitilessly into the thickest, striking right and left with their heavy swords. The howl of anguish of women and children, mingled with the cries of rage of the men, and the curses of the soldiers, while imprecations and threats came down from the windows of the houses, where peaceful men were frightened at

the whirlpool of the revolution, one man sat in apathetic calmn

that he was walking with Emily arm in arm by the side of a precipice, whispering of love and caressing her hand, and suddenly she had fallen away from his side down into the deep, from rock to rock into fearful abysses, from which now cries for help and groans of anguish were rising up to him. Oswald tried in vain to shake off the horrible image; it had imprinted itself too deeply on his over-excited mind. He would have sought rest a

ts and out of temper, having in vain called upon publishers who "could not avail themselves of" his manuscripts; when he found Emily in tears, and had to tell himself that he and he only was responsible for these tears. Then came wretched scenes, when regret at their own folly sought concealment under reproaches and accusations of fickleness and heartlessness, and the tender little flower of love was ruthlessly trodden under foot in the fierce encounter. And yet it had always been Emily who, good-natured and light-hearted as she was, and full of tender love for Oswald, had offered her hand to make peace. "I do not reproach you," she had often said; "I should be perfectly happy if I could but see

mnly in grave converse and broke it off abruptly to dance a wild Mazurka; Melitta, Helen, and Emily floated by on a rosy cloud which changed into dismal rain, and the three witches of Macbeth were shaking their snaky locks. Thus the whole wearisome night passed away. When twilight began to peep in at the window

quite sure of his own share in the matter. It was thought, therefore, that the lady had not been the gentleman's wife, as was first believed, but his siste

good old heart. She had a twofold interest in Oswald. The young man's appearance, the expression of his eyes, and the tone of his voice, had struck her, and reminded her wonderfully of long by-gone days, and of a person whom she had loved tenderly and whose loss she had never yet been able to forget. Then the young man came direct from France, from where t

Should she send for the doctor? No? But a cup of strong beef tea with an egg stirred in? Qu'en dites-vous, Monsieur? The good old lady tripped away to attend to the beef tea herself, as no one else could make it as well. And while she was busy about it she shook her gray head again and again,

rather too small, a mere child in comparison with the very tall and slender hero, who was just putting one foot on the rock and preparing to strike a blow at the monster, which opened its huge mouth wide and stared at him with basilisk eyes. Still, it was not without merit in the conception, nor without delicacy in the execution. The spark of hope which appeared in the girl's eyes and the whole of her childish, beautiful features, and the heroic indignation in the face of the youth, were well rendered; while the landscape--a lonely rock in the boundless ocean, with the sun rising above the horizon and the first rays trembling on the waves up

nes which had taken place last night quite near by, in Brother street, the large assemblies of people Unter den Linden, and the sad times in

ountryman of yours, a dear old gentleman who has lived here many yea

m his own sorrow had not made insensible

e old gentle

e did not come back, and she did not come back, and I grieve over my loss, although it is now nearly twenty-five years old. Have you, monsieur--ah! it is foolish

nothing but a curt: Non madame! in reply, that she scarcely notice

rge, and there are so many people in it! And in this great world and

d her voice had such a true, good sound, that Oswald felt strangely moved, and begged her with cordial warmth to tell him something more about the two persons wh

always tried to keep up pleasant relations with her "foster-children," but with none of them had she been on as friendly a footing as with a certain Monsieur d'Estein, a descendant of French refugees, who supported himself by giving lessons in the tongue of his ancestors. Monsieur d'Estein was an old bachelor o

and perhaps all the more tenderly as she stood perfectly alone in the world, and had no one on earth to love and protect her except her father. Until now she had followed the colonel in all his campaigns, but the brave old soldier trembled at the idea of exposing his only treasure to the dangers of a winter campaign, the results of which he might even then have anticipated. As he had been in Berlin in 1807, and had then made Monsieur d'Estein's

reindeer. His little girl waited and waited for the sleigh and the f

t, that could be merry with the joyous and weep with the sorrowful. Her only fault was an over-active imagination, a fondness of strange, extraordinary things-

" According to these views he sketched out a plan of education for little Marie, with which Mrs. Black never could fully agree, in spite of the unbounded respect she had for Monsieur d'Estein's intelligence and character. Marie was to dress in the simplest way, like the children of humble mechanics; she was to learn every kind of domestic labor: and when she was grown up Monsieur d'Estein carried his oddity so far that he sent her to a r

Black was almost jealous of this love (she had had so little love in her life) and did not like it that Marie had not evidently more confidence in her than in her adopted father. But the latter was, for his part, not less jealous. Mrs. Black even sometimes suspected that monsieur was cherishing very different feelings for his beautifu

arie also looked excited, and showed traces of tears in her beautiful eyes. She went to bed as soon as s

lifted his hat and in very good French--monsieur and Marie had as usual conversed in French--he asked leave for himself and his companion to join their company. Monsieur was the most courteous man in the world, but he said there had been something in the manner of the distinguished stranger which had filled him instantly with a violent aversion against him, and he had therefore replied dryly and curtly that he and mademoiselle preferred remaining alone. Thereupon a slight altercation between him and the stranger had taken place, which ended in his rising and leaving the garden with Marie, pursued by the scornful laugh of the two gentlemen. From that evening Marie showed a decided change in her whole manner. Formerly gay and cheerful, she now hung her head, turned pale and red by turns, was at one time immoderately merry and at another time wretchedly sad. Neither Mrs. Black nor monsieur knew what to make

nergetic soul. This became evident now, when a ruthless hand had cruelly destroyed the happiness of his life. For Mrs. Black could now no longer doubt that the strange man had loved the lost one with all that intense passionateness which is so often found in such reserved, eccentric characters. He carried on his search with restless activity. Success crowned his effort

orgotten her first intention to inquire after Oswald's troubles. She was only reminded o

said. "Your hand is burning hot, and--pardon an old lady-

ffort. "I must tell you: I have not slept a moment all last

rs," begged the old lady. "I know very well young

Mrs. Black rose. "You'll see a few hou

ssing Oswald's hand once more. "Pray, pray, no c

z that evening when he and Timm had sought shelter in her hut. All the details agreed. Just as the old lady had described the strange gentleman, the portrait of Baron Harald looked no

spirits--was it incipient insanity--which changed in his inflamed imagination Monsieur d'Estein, the eccentric teacher of languages, into his father, the strange old man? and the beautiful daughter of the French colonel into

youth, came again, and said: There is the solution! So much that he had never been able to explain in his life became of a sudden quite clear to him. It had not been pure fancy, then, w

has not had victims enough yet! Must there be many more sacrifices? Can a vampire die of his own venomous glance? A bullet? Eh! a bullet, nicely drive

arm, and over the shoulder of his image in the

pon my word, you have a strange look about you. Little Emily, eh? You ought to be glad she is gone, before she made you a mere shadow of your shadow! You see, I know everything; and I know a good deal more; and I

caviare. "None in the house? Go to the Dismal Hole, just around the corner, my man, quite near by.

s eyes less bright than usual. Possibly he might have sat up all night; his whole appearance made it probable. His linen was less tidy than ordinarily, and the brown

raised, unasked, the veil from the un

ison, and there I have been till about a week ago. How I got out? My landlord, the old scamp, at last bethought himself of going to Moses and threatening him with certain stories--well, never mind that! Here I am, a free man once more, and here comes the wine and the oysters. Come, Oswald, fill your glass! Hurrah for the brave! Man! I tell you I am beside myself at having found you out so soon. I was prepared for a long hunt. And now I am going to tell you a story that will make you jump out of your skin. Yes, out of you skin! For

and heir of a great baron, with a rental of ten or twelve thousand a year? But I s

ame was that of her mother, Marie Herzog, who had found her way to Paris, there to meet Colonel Montbert. And Oswald knew that his mother's family name was Herzog. There was a copy of the church-register, obtained by Timm's indefatigable activity and mysterious connections, which proved the marriage performed at St. Mary's between M. d'Estein alias Stein, and Marie Elizabeth Herzog. And then the baptismal certificate: On the 22 December, 1823, a son was born unto Amadeus Stein and his wed

new your mother and was present at your birth and at your baptism. The woman, it is true, is not willing just now to appear in court and to testify to facts which make her appear in an unfavorable light; but money makes the devil dance, and Mrs. Rose will speak out if she is well paid. That is no trouble, therefore. My

had been before, "you wished to sell your discovery to the

us, the mother of his highness. Now I have already dug a superb mine underground, in order to create a useful confusion in the enemy's camp, and we can begin the attack. I am as sure as of my own life that Helen has no fancy for the prince, and that she would say No! even at the last moment, if she knew that you are her cousin, and that she can recover the fortune she loses by the discovery, by marrying you. But she will not believe anybody who would tell her of the whole affair, except one man, and that man is--yourself. Oswald, consider the stake! One single bold step, and the girl whom you love--don't deny it!-

capable as he was of carrying it out boldly, he knew Oswald's hesitating disposition. His most sanguine hope was to find it accepted after a lo

s but one way. I must g

iastically embracing Oswald; "that is the mo

h a shudder which Timm did not

y much I am surprised and shocked by your revel

Timm. "Fresh fish is good fish! I am afraid, if

an hour. I suppose you can leave me the papers? They

er long; and there was something in Oswald's manner which made him shrink from making objections, a decisive firmness in the firmly-closed pale lips, a dism

e length! But, Oswald, if the enterprise succeeds, and I cannot doubt now b

, "that, as far as material advantages are concerned

ike disgust, but which failed to have any effect upon Timm. He only laughed, and said: "Well, I see you are learning your part. I will not detain you an

t save her; I cannot set her free from the rock to which fate has chained her. But I will see her once more, and clear my memory of the disgrace with which this bla

terview. It took him some time. He felt as if he were benumbed in all his limbs, and had to sit down more than on

TER

egant coach, with two high-bred horses, and a large coat-of-arms on the doors. On the box, by the side of the coachman, a servant in gorgeous livery was seated. The coach

Braun a

shy glance at the velvet cloak and the char

o suddenly appeared, adorned with

s towards the lady, who, for her part, drew

est H

est S

unbutton her cloak with trembling hands, took off he

s usual, wondrously beautiful! But you look pale and haggard, it seems to

choly smile, which made her

refresh myself by seeing you. Ah! you

he sad tone of voice in which Helen said she had longed to see her. Such a confession, which the boarder at Miss Be

e she held Helen's hands in her own and lo

escaped her; she hardly

ight, so that she scarcely had more than an hour's rest near morning. Pity for herself, such as she had never known before, ove

iously concerned. "I have never seen you so; I never thought I should see yo

, raising herself and looking at Sophi

she was too honest to say Yes. But she never hesitated long. Now or never w

ve dearly. Come, sweetheart, sit down by me on the sofa here, and let us talk like two sisters; and let us be sisters, if never again, at least for this hou

re comfort and consolation merel

look like a happy woman. Your beautiful, pale face says No, even if your tongue should say Yes. I have often read in your fac

!" sai

t. You wish to rule and to love at the same time, and that cannot be done. Helen! love, true love--and there is no other love--must be humble; it bears all thing's and believes all things; it wants only to be one with the person loved, one in joy and one in sorrow Look, sweetheart! such love has fallen to my share, and therefor

my father died!"

t brought me to him so suddenly and so passionately. You stand alone, even now when you are on the point of being married; and what is a thousand times worse, you are quite sure in your heart that it will always be

ver!" whis

u to marry the prince without loving him, it is still worse to become hi

words in a firm voice, and at the same time looked at h

ature with all that can charm woman. I do not even blame you for loving him still. Who can cast aside true love so promptly? But, Helen,

aid Helen, hiding h

it. I never was a friend of his; his so-called brilliant qualities never attracted me, because they were not founded upon goodness of heart; and, in my eyes, good old Bemperlein stands immeasurably higher than Oswald Stein. But, because he is not worthy of you, must you therefore marry a man for whom your heart feels nothing, however

lly one of the heavenly h

d!" she said. "I wi

so, if you

I have pledged my word!

aid Sophie, who thought such a

ie!" murm

ock at the door. The servant a

'am, on horseback, with

ed the not

m ma

lance at it

is it,

, that brother has been taken very

How pale and frightened you

tay! I must go alone. Good-b

erself from

own, and said: "Let me hear from you, Helen! And, Helen, whatever you do, follow

dy in the carriage; "you may rely

t with her eyes till it had turned the nearest corner, then she went sl

TER

was closeted that same afternoon with Director Schmenckel. They had had a long i

ctly what you

eplied Mr. Schmenckel,

er go over i

arm," replied

he princess so much trouble. You, yourself, would never

im

t worthy of an honest man, and, that you promised the princess, upon you

ke a school-boy who repeats a lesson t

come and ask for money, to have him turned out of the house by the servants. As you do not intend to suppor

o," said Mr. Schme

ey from the princess, neither much nor

ng his hat on his head with a great s

"Go and become once more the honest,

to a bureau and took from a drawer a small box of ebony and a medallion. Then he left the room and went down the passage till he cam

cried a sh

r ent

s toilet. He turned round, thinking it was a waiter. The new comer cast a rapid look around the r

ed Count Malikowsky, st

I have already tol

ou can speak to my valet. I do no

likes best to have demands which are presented to him in person attended to by other

centre of the room, placed the little box on it, and

hless and motionless. The sight of the pistols, however, brought him to his senses again. W

his way, the pis

sound, and you die like a dog! Stand over

count, obeying Berger's command

rtable laugh; "but if I am mad it is

deed, I

had the equivocal honor of meeting you. I

took his gold eye-glass and looked at the miniature. It was a well-painted portr

ed the count,

ain and putting it away. "And now I hope you will know wh

e teeth rattled; he had to sit down in an arm-chair whic

to enjoy the w

ribs for the sake of a useless bit of life! Miserable coward! You can seduce girls, but you c

! You see, I am an old man; my hands tremble from go

othing but a whitewashed grave? Why, then, it

is head and th

the pistols back in the bo

t revenge would be wondrously sweet; but the cup in which

ised his lids, fixed his piercing eyes on the count, who

one condition: You will leave town in an hour, and never appear again

said the count. "I shall be glad t

ger was instantly at the window. Crowds of people--men, women, and children--were r

g his arms on high in wild joyousness. "

whom curiosity had roused from his terror, by the

men and children! Now all the old debts shall be paid that you

contemptuously from him, ope

officer, who was j

rince Wa

the princess," said the prince, out of breath; "but you hear the r

m the encounter with Berger. He stared at th

ked the prince, who now only not

so many years against his wife's son at last broke out into full fury. "I am not your father. I do no

said the prince, fearing t

"Delightful! Charming! But I am tired of

ng th

s the waiter came. Then turning to the

his own ears and eyes or not. Suddenly he seemed to have formed a resolution. He ca

TER

k; but Mr. Schmenckel felt that he was only doing his duty if he broke up the plot into which he had been entrapped by the cunning of Mr. Timm. How fortunate that he had revealed it all to the professor in his great anxiety! How that man talked! Why, he had frightened him out of his wits! Schmenckel had always said that the professor was a man of very special gifts. And that the Czika turned out to be a baron

said suddenly a very sharp voice near him. "You

smal Hole, where they had appointed to meet in case they should miss each other in the street. Timm had had his reasons for sending Schmenckel an hour sooner than Oswald to the house. If Oswald's interview with the baroness was to be successful, the baroness must first have read a certain lette

in his irritation. "I cannot leave you alone

ng in his virtuous purposes quite able to cope with the ser

that he had

ought to be taken. Only make haste now to go in. All may

wled Mr.

en him?" exclaimed Timm, whose i

el, defiantly. "Because I do not want to

burnt my fingers to draw the chestnuts out of the fire for you, eh? No, m

menckel. "I am going to tell the princess that I am an hones

mean to betray me a little, do you? Have a care

nckel, assuming a very determined ai

house!" cried Timm, and se

. Timm very unpleasantly across the sidewalk against the wall. T

ery of the servants, nor by the splendor of the rooms through which he was led. But his courage failed him and his heart sank when the servant stopped at a door and whispered: "Her grace is

ing there in spite of the warm weather, while the other stood a little sideways behind the chair. Both of them examined him as he approached with eage

" said the lady who was

again to a stop, quite determined this time no

t Malikowsky day before yesterday?

f the large apartment. This was by no means calculated to bring back the heroic frame of mind which the rosy twilight and the bright eyes had so ser

nckel?" asked the l

your g

t. Petersburg twen

your g

sited at Le

your g

recogn

ng upon everything in the room except the two ladie

very long time since, I should say you were the Nadeska, the chambermaid of the prin

ew words into her ear, to which the latter repli

menckel?" said the princess

himself on the outer

ize me also?"

wed, placing his

tle reproach. "Why did you take the count into your confidence? Have I ever be

bout to reply, but t

do so. But one condition I must make: you must have nothing to do with the count; and, above all things, you must never dare come near the

the rosy twilight gave a spiritual beauty to her pale but still beautiful features. Mr. Schmen

e life a little hard to you, Mrs. Princess. But he said I must not say a word to the prince, or there would be an end to the fun. And then, says he, you ask too much; a fourth of it is enough. And he told me to talk it over with your grace and then he would pay me the money this forenoon at his hotel. Now, your grace, you may believe it or not, as you choose, but Caspar Schmenckel, from Vienna, is an honest fellow, and don't like to do any harm to anybody, least of all to a beautiful lady who was once upon a time very kind to poor Caspar. And when your grace sent for me, and l

s he rose and m

s was very

she said, with

mournful satisfaction. She thought of the days when this man, a lion in strength and agility, had conquered not her heart but her imagination. But at the same moment a sudden fear overcame h

n all the colors of the rainbow as they caught the light of the fire--"here; no words, take it! I wore it long, lo

silver bell. N

Mind that no

d and embarrassed to find words, and led him through a secret door which led near the f

-place, which had been moving several times during her conversation with Mr. Schmenckel, now opened and admitted the prince. She only heard him when he was close by her. She o

e cried, raising her folded

ming burden, and his voice sounded like a hoarse death-rattle, as he now sa

ho has just lef

rcy! Are you going

d never borne

shaking him; a groan broke from his breast which

und, hear me, I beseech

ready. The count called me a bastard! I thoug

rd in the ante-room. His eyes looked searchingly aroun

nd, what are yo

of it as soon

ill ever

y rank, my honor, my fortune to depend on the whim of a chambermaid,

ll the people in

it! They shall die--they shall al

were dead and the secret were buried in my bosom, I should not think it safe eve

t the moment to abandon herself to idle grief. She knew her son's chara

ame his wife because--because the czar would have it so. And I was so young at that time, and so frivolous and thoughtless, grown up in all the splendor and luxury of the most splendid and most luxurious court on earth! I was not a faithful wife--nor was the count a faithful husband. It mattered little to him; but he wished to get a hold on me in order to force me to provide for his mad expenditu

which interwove truth and fiction so skilfully, wi

As it is, I cannot live. I cannot endure the consciousness that my

ot your

w person no

etched feebleness, his poisoned blood? And do you fancy that in our veins no other blood flows but noble blood?--that your case is the only one in which a degenerate race has been

air and whispered something in her so

others, before the tide rises higher and higher, and I get deeper and deeper into the mire. Do you know that the man with whom I had a personal encounter Under the Lindens a few days ago was this very man!" The prince poi

" The princ

. A gleam of hope appeared to her; she thought s

humiliate yourself before her, the proud beauty? Impossible! You cannot mean it. You are bound to li

ds cannot remove this terrible burden!" He plac

rned

ng suddenly from her chair and clingin

d, trying to disengage himself

e terrible excitement of these last two scenes was too much

k. A glance at the scene in the

astening to assist her fainting mistress.

ghed. It was a

suppose you talked in your dreams? Or have

d with his closed f

PTE

ncess. He thought he would sink into the ground for shame, as she looked fixedly into his eyes. She said something to him, but he did not hear

ed him with a sombr

at some time in her life, and that the count thus had an iron hold on her. Perhaps the striking want of resemblance between father and son might have contributed to such a conclusion. Thus she had risen late in very bad humor, and with a violent nervous headache, and was rather pleased to learn that Miss Helen had driven out to visit her friend, Sophie. Helen had scarcely left the house when two letters were brought in, one from Grunwald, the other from the city itself. She opened the one from Grunwald first. The news of Malte's illness filled her with consternati

e second letter. It was fr

Timm is a good-natured fellow and offers you a piece of good advice in return for your ingratitude. Make your peace with Mr. Stein before it is too late! Better a small sacrifice than an entire loss. I send your adversary to you; receive him kindly, and if you are wise give him the hand of your daughter, who loves him madly. The princely match is anyhow at an end, considering that the prince is not the son of a count, but of a

turbed that the letter and everything else appeared to her in quite a new light. Was not, after all, everything and anything possible in this false world? It was evident that this Mr

each Grunwald next day! Her trunks were not packed, the question whether Helen should accompany her or stay had not been decided, and she had yet to take leave of the princess and the prince. But that

ante-rooms which led to the apartments of the princess, when suddenly the prince rush

he door opened again suddenly, and Nade

princess?" ask

is coming to answer the bell. I a

s. "I will stay in the me

ot prevent the baroness from entering. She hurried away, while Anna M

-closed eyes and the convulsive movements of her hands showe

s; the father is stronger than the son. You see! you see! how he takes him around th

n hysterics, mixed with a horribl

baroness will tell her beautiful daughter, and then she wont take

looks at the baroness. Immediately she sank back once more, fainting anew. Nadeska came in

, while the servants took up the fainting lady and carried her into her bed-room. "S

baroness, coldly; "especially as I have to leave

Nadeska. "Does she also know

the clever, sensible woman was utterly at a loss. But was not the ground giving way under her feet? Was the indestructible pillar of her success not snapping suddenly like a bruised reed? The prince a rope-dancer's son! A family secret anxiously guarded for twenty-odd years, suddenly proclaimed in the streets and on the house-tops! Her son, the legitimate heir to the immense esta

y now approaching. A few anxious moments and the beautiful daughter came, pale and distressed, into the room, and threw her

d Anna Maria. "I must go; I wanted

Helen. "I should stay

not feel happ

I have never loved him!" And Helen

ly gave her an utterly new insight into her daughter's character. She had a dim perception that large portions of her inner life had so far bee

e your promise t

now I do know it. I cannot marry the prince; he must give me

I do not

surprised. She looked at the

say the least, very much, and which have brought me the conviction that we have proceeded in thi

stand you, mamm

na Maria, plaintively. "I hardly know whe

a chair as if she were broken-hear

uched her deeply. She knelt down by her, and tried to cons

ssure of a moment, yielding to the natural impulse of all helpless sufferers to cling to others at any hazard, she told Helen in a few words

lor came and went continually, her eyes were fixed on her

that being rich has made you happy, or papa; he told me so in his last hour. I have seen it with my own eyes how much happier people are who have nothing but their affection, who rely on nothing but their own strength. I have strength; I can and will

e without writing a few words of farewell to the princess, as she is too unwell to see us, and we are in such a h

down at her escritoire, while her

dle of the room stood Oswald, deadly pale, his large eyes, brilliant with fever, fixed upon her. Hel

eemed to

for my abrupt appearance. I asked for

y mother," sai

I have only two words to say. I would ra

's manner and tone of voice that Helen

nking herself into a chair and po

d sat

ou of certain intrigues by which she has been troubled of

orning heard of it

ht; I believe I could not die quietly if I thought that you believed me capable

wil

yourself, how bitterly I regret that you

but an inventi

ume it is more than that. I am only too much afraid it is the

would refuse to acknowledge

o make such claims. I should never have done so

lendor of the apartment reminded

t unfortunate of all stories. I desire the baroness to take them and to ke

mm had brought him a few hours before upon

you imagine my mother will accept such a gift? Who

pt myself, and I desire to be relieved of an unpleasant suspicion. It was hardly necessary to remind me that a few hundred tho

at I am so indifferent to your claims because, I am proud of our wealth and our rank. We are at this very moment on the point of leaving for Grenwitz, where my bro

arms for him. Just now this glorious beauty, this highest beau-ideal of his wildest dreams, must present herself to him, not at an inapproachable distance, but within reach attainable to his bold desires--to his firm will, perhaps! Why did she tell him that she would nev

if she had not loved him at some time or other; if she did not perhaps still love him; and yet he knew with absolute certainty that they were separated from each other irretrieva

you also would have loved me if I had but been true to myself; you might have become my own. But when I forsook myself you also forsook me, and now there is an abyss between us over which there is no bridge. And what seemed to be about to bring us together--the discovery of this morning--only parts us forever. I feel it clearly. You will never be disposed to accept a gift, as yo

her hand

rnings in the past at Grenwitz under the whispering trees, and all the purple-glowing evenings in the green bee

ell, H

ell, O

rev

rev

. He felt that the time for repentance which was granted to him was too short, and swearin

had held in his own, and--th

the door through which Oswald had disappear

she said; "the carriage

es

re those on th

ot take t

ho

wal

here? What

Take those papers, mother

crying! What does that mean? Do you love

in our misfortune. There is the lette

wrote in great

me, mamma; I will show you that I have still

yielded herself up to her daughter's su

denberg House, and half an hour afterwards

TER

nowing what he was doing, he felt suddenly so

s as angry as he had ever been in his life. It was the rage of the hunter when he sees a wild beast tearing his cunningly-woven nets and escaping from his most ingenious trap. This booby of a Schmenckel, with his stupid honesty! How he had worked at the man to dazzle him with golden prospects; a

he prince leave the house, nor Oswald go in, and he was now also but just in ti

lo!

t is

I ask y

that

n promptly?" And he was about to slip his arm fa

said, "or I will be

mm, giving way;

ity your profession, and speculate on vice. Let me n

ied faces of women and children in doors and windows; dense crowds of men, who seemed to tell each other fearful things with wild gestures and loud exclamations; running and shouting, yelling and whistling on all sides, and between the mournful ring of

d; he staggered like a drunken man, and suddenly he fell down right before Oswald. Oswald raised him up, and in an instant a crowd of men and women were around them. "He is dying!" cried the men. "A curse upon the executioners!" The women shrieked. One cried out: "Take him; don't you see the gentleman can hardly stand himself!" A man took the dying youth from Oswald's arms. Suddenly Oswald felt some one touch

dly; "come! let the dead bury the dead. We

ened off

death-defying men and boys, mostly belonging to the lower classes of the people. These improvised fortresses did not inspire much hope of being able to resist long, for they consisted mostly of one, or at best of sev

ling with his deep, sonorous voice "To arms! to the barricades!" But whe

ven up quickly. No barricade can be defended successfully in this s

ad street, near Mrs.

arrow alley was the Dismal Hole. Here the excitement was intense. From the great square, near the pa

f they do not mean to throw up fortif

voice. "His majesty is pleased to shoot his faithful subjects and to receive them with grapeshot!" cried another voice. "Gentlemen!" shrieked the orator, "do not give way to feelings of hatred and revenge. His majest

and negotiate, while your brethren are murdered in the next street? Are you ever going on trusting, you trusting, deceived, cheated people. You will gain nothing but what you conquer, arms in hand; you

with the voice of thunder on all

ands rose, as

d him; they pressed his hands. Some asked him to

ed towards a tall, thin gentleman who

e cried, taking the ta

burg, and speak to them only a few words. Yo

was on t

ight ago for a little while in the streets of Paris. If you will make use of my experience for want of a better man, I am heart

sy and yet so persuasive had a charm which the crowd could no

ey cried on all sides. "Let t

rg, raising his voice; "ev

ass suddenly came to order. In all minds but one thought seemed to be uppe

said Oldenburg, "or we might just

, planks bridging over gutters, bags filled with sand, completed the strength of this structure, which rose with a rapidity proportionate to the feverish excitement that beat in all hearts. Every muscle, every sinew, was strained to the utmost; boys were carrying loads which ordinarily a man would have considered heavy; men who only knew how to use a pen suddenly seemed to be endowed with muscles of steel. Above all, however, a man in a worn-out velvet co

patting the giant on the back; "but spa

Schmenckel, wiping the perspiration from his

here!" some

chmenckel, and hurried

glance at the roofs of the houses on both sides of the barricade, where men were busy taking off th

en. Each of them had a rifle. Others were drag

oon after an old fowling-piece and a rusty gun with an old-fashioned flint-lock were brought up, and last of all four pistols from the lodgings of a couple of officers which had been luckily discovered. The arms were at once distributed, and every man had his post assigned him. Every ar

t been loaded and the men had taken their places when a battalion of infantry came marching up the street. A major rode at the head. He ordered "Halt!" at some distance from the barricade, and rode up alone till within a

not take that thing there out of my way willingly, I shall have

peared on th

y to the major, "I declare that we are determined to stand b

is words evidently made an i

e leader of

e that

thing there is of no avail, and that your few charges cannot p

with your request, and mus

, more annoyed than angry, "

rned his horse and gal

words of the major had not failed to make an impression on the crowd, and that more than one looked

ve for country and liberty than die for them

beat painfully, but every one felt that the die was cast,

, and the terrible summons drove ev

the drums like loud trumpet-sound: "Every man to his post!

aw the column approaching at quick-step; in the centre the dr

n! Halt!

hailed upon the barricade

er arms

rushing with charged ba

still standing on the bar

the smoke and the dust slowly blew away, the company which had come up in military regularity was seen running away in wild flight, and before them

st discharge, and a piece of it had struck the head of one of the marksmen. This accident only increased the good humor of th

onscious of the weakness of the government against which they rose, and clearly understanding the whole situation; here he found nothing but uncertainty, divided opinions, and doubts. But the genius of mankind does not always require a clear, perfect understanding in its defenders; a vague impulse, a dim perception even, leads often to glorious dee

manding officer the madness of such a butchery. But all they had heard in reply was open scorn, and at best rude orders to mind their own business. When Oldenburg saw that he could not be of any use in this way, and that matters had come to a crisis, he had tried to reach Melitta's lodgings in Broad street to place her and the children in safety. But he had been compelled to make a wide circuit, for the troops had already taken possession of all the approaches from the side of the palace, and he barely

, and to establish a communication with the nearest barricades. For so far the rising was without any organization; no concerted plan to produce united efforts; every barricade was fighting by itself. Besides, day-light began to fade away, and night, although it might leave the troops in doubt as to the strength of the enemy, also tended to incre

alley"--and he pointed to Gertrude street, which passed by the hotel and led from Broad street into Brother street. "We must nec

suspicion that Oswald could be here,

second company came up to storm the barricade. This time the major on his white horse was not there

is men with great violence upon the barricade. But as Oldenburg and his men had again reserved their fire till the last moment, the loss was very great for the attacking party;

who had imprudently exposed himself was shot through the breast and d

hemselves not to leave each other till death should part them forever. Women, who ordinarily went out of their way to avoid meeting common people, now went about among the fighting men and distributed bread and wine. Among these

ntributed generously. It was a strange contrast: the sacred peace high up in the heavenly regions, and down here a city raging in the fever of revolution, where the howling of alarm-bells and the thunder of cannon, the rattling of small arms and the mad cries of the combatants, were horribly mi

. But just then loud cries were heard from Gertrude street, and a few shots fell. Oldenburg, fearing the troops might have taken the barricade in Brother street and were pushing on through Gertrude street, rapidly collect

ble to meet just now the man whom he had at one time revered as a superior being, and at another time hated as his bitterest enemy. He did not wish to renew the contest between such feelings in his own heart; he was so weary, weary unto death! The excitement

ng on the barricade in Gertrude street to res

s; it only tears them, without paying them, and throws the fragments at the

king around anxiously to see

ry bitter. Oswald! at first I had courage enough, and lived bravely; but after six months of such life my courage is gone and my strength exhausted. My nerves cannot bear it any longer. That is why I feel so joyfully this day, on which the people have at last shaken off their disgraceful apathy to rise in their might. If I could die to-day for thi

ald's hand, wh

est enemy? was

d helped them gloriously in building up the barricade, was Prince Waldenberg's father. "The low-born man the fat

ed Berger of the discoveries he had made that day with regard to his own birth. "Th

than m

t splendor to remain fai

shook h

s. She could never be mine. Too many things had happened that could never be forgiven and forgotten. I had

you sa

at the last moment that she had a heart in her bosom who

favor of the same lady! And she rejects you because she has no suspicion of your noble birth, and she accepts the prince because she thinks that the same blood flows in his veins,

ite as much as formerly. I can remember the time when you t

he world, Oldenburg would have been that man. If I ever could humble myself before any man and acknowledge him to be my lord and master, that man is Oldenburg. I know you hate him because the woman whom you have forsaken

n Grunwald? 'You will die before me,' you said, 'for the Big Serpent is

ear has made the Big Serpent du

zed their arms and hurried, followed by other men of the same barricade, to the place, where now several shots were fired. Thes

TER

nashing his teeth, and shaking his hands at imaginary enemies. Albert Timm was savage, and from his point of view he had reason to be furious. He was in a desperate position. The debts he had left behind him in Grunwald and elsewhere were not particularly pressing

e nothing, and possibly gain much. This thought restored to him his full elasticity. He hurrahed merrily with the crowd, he chimed in with the cry: To arms! to arms! and had real pleasure in finding the excitement growing apace as he came nearer the place of his destination, the Dismal Hole. Thus he reached Broad street just at the moment when Oswald and Berger approach

ve, who had in the meantime become Timm's fri

and my trouble! All up! I could roast the two

me that at leisure. Come to Rose; but let us

ow him?" a

the election meetings! Why, there is the whole nest of them!--build barricades!--hurrah! Bravo!--hurrah! All men to the barricades! Hurrah!" cried the detective, and waved

wn Gertrude street and disa

ceived them with

u come with full purse

ctive, "and bring us

hy matron indignantly, and made with her thumb

s in reply, and pulled out the

e gave vent in a flood of oaths and vile invectives, some of which were aimed at the detective. "But I will pay Schmenckel, with

at the windows. They began building the barricade which was to close up Gertrude street. The detective and Timm, who looked stealthily out at the

ve. "We are hemmed in on all sides, and if

at," said the woman. "I can g

few steps into a deep cellar, which was used as a store-room. On th

the opposite side; "then you get into a narrow court-yard; keep to the left,

Timm, when he found the

expect more beer that way. The

and the brewery, into the space above the barricade in Brother street, they stop

rap this would

can make sure of the president. We want people like

avenge us, too,

e from danger, though

like the idea of catching my good friends in this funny w

tive. "We'll see if the military a

le distance surrounded by his officers, and furious at the obstinate resistance of the two

*

ey were mostly old customers of the locality, the same men with long beards and dishevelled locks who had been in the habit of meeting here to condemn the "rotten condition of the state," the "hateful police," and

y out her resolution, and to leave the waiting upon the barricade men

t she ought to tell her admirer what she had seen, especially as she liked to show him what a false pussy-cat Mrs. Rose was--a fact of which she had often tried to convince him in vain. Schmenckel at once appreciated the importance of her com

o be made at once. But at the very moment when the men took up their arms and turned to the door which led into the store-room in

of the barricade men with such terror that they rushed helter skelter up the steps and fled into the street. Here they were met by Oswald a

that two or three were lying disabled on the floor, and the others were retiring panic-struck through the back door. There, however, they met their advancing comrades, and this caused a fearful c

blow fell in vain upon the heads of the unfortunate soldiers. Thus he cut his way to the door which led into the court-yard, at which he met several escaping soldiers, while others were eagerly crowding after them. And now he had attained his end. Seizing with his irresist

professor! No one can get out or in any

drinking saloon, where they were disarmed. The poor fellows presented a piteous sight There was not one of them who was not seriously wounded. Their bright uniforms in rags, out of breath, pale with fright and exhaustion, stained with blood and dust and dirt--thus they stood there surrounded by the barricade men, who likewise bore the marks of a severe conflict. But the low cellar contained greater horrors than these. When lights were brought two bodies were seen lying lifeless in their blood, a soldier and a civilian. The soldier had in his wild flight thrown himself upon his own bayonet, which pierced him through and through, and no doubt

TER

roops followed different tactics; they did not advance in close columns, but in small detachments on both sides of the street, as much as possible under cover, and keeping apart till they could form once more close before the barricade. But if their losses were smaller, their success was by no mea

m one or the other group, after which the deep silence became all the more oppressive. Upon a cask which formed part of the barricade sat Oldenburg; his long legs were hanging down, and he blew thick clouds of smoke from his cigar. His air was that of a man who has assumed a serious responsibility and is determined to carry out what he has undertaken. He did not doubt for a moment that the barricade would be taken, and that he would fall at the head of his men; but this was the last thing he thought of. To die in a good cause had no terrors for him. Oldenburg actually fancied he felt a faint desire for death in his heart. Had he not seen how the sweet hope of at last calling Melitta his own

lad that Melitta was not present. He had at the very beginning sent her word through old Baumann to stay at her safe place of refuge. When he sent the old man to her he thought in his heart: W

ning, there Oswald was sure to be; and as Oldenburg also chose the most exposed positions, the two men were constantly side by side. But as soon as the danger was over Oswald withdrew, and Oldenburg did not follow him as his withdrawing w

by the watch-fire. In the changeful light their forms now stood forth brightly, and now were lost in the dark shade. This lent them somet

nd went u

men," he said; "are we goi

re either short of ammunition or

re likely. What do

eyes fixed immoveably upon the flames. Suddenly he stretched o

r horses, who are tired dragging more and more weapons against the people! No

enburg, placing hi

uddenly roused from a heavy drea

e asked, starin

s, Berger. Lie down for an hour. I wil

"Yes; exhausted unto death. But that is why an hour is no

pped up, who had been on guar

ar going on. I believe they are

start

ou brave men; all of you! One more merry dance with the weird fairies

Others remained where they were and laughed at the false alarm. But they also were quickly enough upon their feet when an explosion c

rg, turning to Oswald. But the place wh

et my conscience is quiet. I have no reproach

, where the captain's presen

not wishing to expose the lives of his men unnecessarily, had given orders that they should keep as much as possible under cover, and not return the fire of the enemy, but save every shot for the moment of the charge itself. He had also doubled the number of men wi

ns when battery opened a most terrifi

all was per

eating the charge. And with every beat the column drew nea

stones in their hands; in the windows of the houses, and near the openings in

who leads the attack. And now the officer gives a command, drowned in the beating of the drums; and as he waves his bright sword the men cheer, and with three hurrahs they rush forward. But before they reach the barrica

gigantic strength. But suddenly a man in a worn-out velvet coat, who wields as his only weapon a rifle-barrel without the stock, leaps

y h

r falls dead, face foremost; with him half a dozen men fall, more or less dangerously

eir victory. While part of the men repair the barricade, which is half destroyed, another part is busy with the dead and wounded. The man in the velve

comes up t

he d

es

es. The pale face is so quiet, so peaceful, and

of the body. He is startled. The young man's countenance is as pale

Oswald! are

s Oswald, and sinks down b

TER

ing sun. And so there are bathing in the same golden morning sun thousands and thousands of happy men who wander in endless crowds through the city. All the pilgrims feel like pious pilgrims who have long painfully wandered through desert wastes and over rough mountains to the sacred imag

r, never forgiven you anything, and who will never forget that you have sinned against them as they look upon it. Your houses still show the traces of the fratricidal struggle. Your roofs, from which in your despair you hurled stones upon the heads of your enemies, are still uncove

wn upon the people who now merrily swarmed over the place where two days ago a huge barricade had been erected;

victims were

pale man was lying in his coffin, from whose face a gray beard was flowing in ample

nded by the side of the gray-haired enthusiast, and whose powerful, youthful strength

itation prevailed among the ruling spirits, and partly because the death of Prince Waldenberg, who had led the last charge with almost rapturous bravery and had fallen in the attack, had disheart

roops had received orders to retreat. Only then he had called Schmenckel, who had stood by him like a tru

ount which honest Caspar Schmenckel gave of his life, and especially the events of the last days--the plot of poor Albert Timm, whose body had been carried to the hospital--of brave Jeremy Goodheart, who had led the surprise in the

entioned in Schmenckel's story, too well to doubt for a momen

was not likely to make any difference between the son of Baron Harald and the son of M

the news of the conflict and that Oldenburg was in command at the barricade in Broad street. Melitta had at once decided to join Oldenburg, and Sophie saw very well that Franz could not stay at home, when so many thou

, and it was only after several hours wandering, and often

im go again. She had trembled for his life, and was all joy now to find him again, blackened with powder but in the full glory of his manhood, till he whispered in her ear that Oswald was lying, mortal

escribe volubly all the fearful images which crowded his overwrought brain. He who in life was so reserved, had thus revealed the secret of his birth, a revelation which perfectly overwhelmed Mrs. Black, and made her bitterly regret her long-continued longing for Marie, w

ed Oswald's wound fatal, and given him one or at best two days' life. It is possible

all his wanderings; he had only spoken of a dear, sweet woman, against whom he had sinned grievously, and who could never forgive him for what he had done. This recoll

itta was sitting. But the groan had not been one of pain; it was the deep breathing of a breath which had been relieved of

voice calling, Oswald! Oswald! And at the silvery sound of this dear soft voice all the masks and monsters had vanished and the howling of demons had ceased. The hot, narrow passages widened into lofty, airy halls which began to sway gently to and fro, so that there were no longer arches of stone but the majestic tops of venerable, giant trees, with merrily singing birds skipping through the green foliage, and here and there golden rays of the sun. And again the voice called Oswald! Oswald! and he flew towards the sound, through the dark shady woods, over mossy ground, through which si

through his limbs. He wanted to open his eyes, but a dear warm hand softly closed them; the land of harvests and sunshine faded away, the lofty forms

*

nse city wears a festive air; but the color of this solemnity is tha

making their way towards the beautiful open square in the heart of the city, where, amid temples bathed in the rays of the noon-day sun, the coffins of all the victims of that night of terror are standing on a huge platform. One hund

, as well as numberless private houses, had besides their wounde

all the steeples--the same bells which in th

motion. A procession such as that city had never see

s, and twenty thousand men of every age and every rank form the escort. On every coffin is a paper w

iled to achieve? All desires are crowned, all sins are expiated, by their dying for freedom. This was felt by the hundred thousa

f the city, where the men of the barricades have on the day before dug out an immense square hole. The procession enters the c

olemn silence. Guns are fired and a whole

wh

the

o longer in their cool resting

he li

h, lest the night come once more in which the brave feel sad and the wicked delight; that night full of romantic masks and fantastic spectres; that night so poor in sound stro

E