the sewing-maid, for Mrs. Garman was anxious that her dress should be in
keeping with the rest of the establishment, and the Consul had given
Miss Cordsen strict orders on the subject. It was a great relief to
Madeleine, in her loneliness, to show herself kindly and almost
affectionately disposed towards the timid girl. One evening when she had
gone, Madeleine asked Miss Cordsen who she was, and the old lady, after
scrutinizing her sharply, answered, "that Marianne was a granddaughter
of old Anders Begmand, and that some years before she had had a baby.
Her sweetheart," said Miss Cordsen, fixing her eyes again sharply on
Madeleine, "had gone to America, and the child was dead, and as she had
been in service at Sandsgaard, the Garmans had had her taught
dressmaking, so that now she had constant employment in the house."

This was all Madeleine found out, and she did not ask any more questions
on the subject, which was a relief to Miss Cordsen.

The old lady's story was, however, not Strictly correct in its details;
a secret of the Garman family was hid in the sempstress's history--a
secret which Miss Cordsen concealed with the greatest jealousy.

As Marianne went home that evening this event came into her thoughts; it
was, in fact, never entirely absent from them. The bright and friendly
manner of Madeleine, who was so unlike the rest of her family, had awoke
in her many reminiscences. She felt quite sure that Madeleine did not as
yet know all her history; it was impossible that she could know it, for
she seemed so kindly disposed towards her, and Marianne dreaded that any
one should tell her. There were, indeed, plenty of people who could tell
her story, but none knew what she had suffered. As she went on her way
all the sad events of her life's misfortune seemed to pass in review
before her. Her first thought was, how handsome he looked when he came