The Nameless Castle

y day observed the doings of his fellow-men. He noticed everything that went on about him. He peered into the neighboring farm-yards and cottages, was a spectator of the community's disputes as wel

dge of Sighs"? His telescope told him that this woman was young and very fair; and it told him also th

ng and sociable families of distinction. It was therefore a difficult matter for the well-born man or woman who t

rst year of his occupancy of the Nameless Castle; but his refusals to acce

ligible young nobles, who had honored him with their visits. He noticed, too, that none of the visitors spent a night at the manor. Very often the baroness did not leave her room when a caller came; it may have been th

ceful figure, her intrepid movements, and her beautiful face

uring her skating exercises cast an inquiring glance toward the win

ge children. The little ones hastened from the manor to the castle, and repeate

not approve. He, too, gave plenteously to the poor, but through the village pastor, and only to those needy ones who were too modest to beg openly. The street beggars he repulsed with great harshness-with one exception. This was a one-legged man,

saw the old soldier, as usual, but without his crutches. In

iage, and asked: "Are not

leg made for me,-I could dance with it if I wished,-so I don't need to beg any more, for

everything better than he did. He felt that she was his rival

ad gone to the war, and, in order to render their condition more comfortable, had undertaken to found a home for them. She had already given the necessary buildings, and had furnished them. She now applied to the sympathies of the well-to

ut in the letter which accompanied the gift he stipulated that the boy whose mother

at the baroness should acknowledge the

ess. The expressions were gracefully worded and artless; nothing of flatter

he principle of my undertaking, or you do not wish to transfer to another the burden you have taken upon yourself. If the latter be the reason, I am perfe

project, and he wrote accordingly; but he added that he disapproved the prison-like system of children's asylums, the convict-like regulations of such institutions. He thought the lit

c and empiric data and recognized authorities as had been her opponent. The count one day would despatch a letter to the manor, and Baroness Katharina would sen

his little protégé, and spent several hours patiently teaching the lad, in order that he might compete favorably with the baroness's charges. The task was by no means an easy one, as the lad possessed a very dull brain. This was, it must be confessed, an excellent thing for the orphans. If the motherly care which the baroness lavished on her

victory fell to the lad

a letter from his neighbor at the manor (they

tter r

o the village. Here she found every door closed against her-for who would care to shelter the wife of a robber? At last the poor woman came to me, and begged me to give her work. My servants are greatly excited because I have taken her into my employ; but I am convinced that the woman is innocent and honest. Were I to cast her adrift, she might become what she has been accused of being-the accomplice

the world-was so praiseworthy, so sublime, that nothing could approach it. That same day he sent the lad with Frau Schmidt to

ld not help but think of

ut could gain no information save that which we have already heard from the county physician: disappo

vel. Women, especially young women, rarely quit the pleas

ard were identical, and that Marie was none other than the child he had rescued from her enemies. Here in this land, where order prevailed, but

ould the r

urther away. When he had accepted the responsible mission he had said to

man in the flower of his youth, should be able to bury himself in an unknown corner of the world, to give up all his friends, to renounce everything that made life worth living, but th

re approaching fulfilment: "The child will grow to be a lovely wom

bitant of a different planet," he had

the weighty secret of her destiny, whence could she have taken the strength of

had it been in his power. He treated her as a child-gave her dolls and the toys of a child; but this could not go on forever. Deeply concerned, Ludwig observed that Marie's countenance became more and more melancholy, and that