it have been? he asked himself. As soon as he got home he turned over
the old diary books, which his father, especially when in the country,
was very careful in keeping. He might not find an entry of this
particular planting, but another important domestic matter, which Edward
well remembered, and which had occurred on the same day, would surely be
mentioned. He turned over a few volumes. The circumstances he was
looking for was there. How amazed, how overjoyed he was, when he
discovered the strangest coincidence! The day and the year on which he
had planted those trees, was the very day, the very year, when Ottilie
was born.




CHAPTER XV


THE long-wished-for morning dawned at last on Edward; and very soon a
number of guests arrived. They had sent out a large number of
invitations, and many who had missed the laying of the foundation-stone,
which was reported to have been so charming, were the more careful not
to be absent on the second festivity.

Before dinner the carpenter's people appeared, with music, in the court
of the castle. They bore an immense garland of flowers, composed of a
number of single wreaths, winding in and out, one above the other;
saluting the company, they made request, according to custom, for silk
handkerchiefs and ribands, at the hands of the fair sex, with which to
dress themselves out. When the castle party went into the dining-hall,
they marched off singing and shouting, and after amusing themselves a