VII. "THE WORLD IS RIGHT ENOUGH AFTER ALL"

VIII. AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL

IX. AN IMPORTANT STEP TAKEN

X. A RISE IN LIFE

XI. THE WEDDING POSTPONED AGAIN

XII. THE FAIR AND THE CONVICT






CHAPTER I

NEGLECTED RESPONSIBILITIES


"Like a prince in his cradle," you say, "with invisible fairies and the
innocent peace of childhood over him!"

What fairy stood by the cradle of Barbara's Nikolai it would be
difficult to say. Out at the tinsmith's, in the little house with the
cracked and broken window-panes in the outskirts of the town, there was
often a run of visitors, generally late at night, when wanderers on the