"Mother, she entered with me. I brought her in."

"Then you were very wrong. These people, like all of their class,
require to be kept down--repressed."

"Mother, this is a republic!"

"Yes; and it is ten times more necessary to keep the lower orders down,
in a republic like this, where they are always trying to rise, than it
is in a monarchy, where they always keep their place," said the lady
arrogantly.

"What have you there?" inquired Herman, with a view of changing the
disagreeable subject.

"The English papers. The foreign mail is in. And, by the way, here is a
letter for you."

Herman received the letter from her hand, changed color as he looked at
the writing on the envelope, and walked away to the front window to read
it alone.

His mother's watchful eyes followed him.

As he read, his face flushed and paled; his eyes flashed and smoldered;
sighs and moans escaped his lips. At length, softly crumpling up the
letter, he thrust it into his pocket, and was stealing from the room to
conceal his agitation, when his mother, who had seen it all, spoke:

"Any bad news, Herman?"