force myself to remain calm. But look at her! Her poor heart must be
like a graveyard, for she was doomed to bury what she held dearest. And
who," he continued furiously, so carried away by grief and indignation as
to be unmindful of his promise to maintain his composure, "who is to
blame for it all, save you and your boundless imprudence?"

Eva, with uplifted hands, tried to explain how, unconscious of her acts,
she had walked in her sleep down the stairs and out of the house, but he
imperiously cut her short with:

"Silence! I know all. My daughter gave a worthless tempter the right
to expect the worst from her. You, whom we deemed the ornament of this
house, whose purity hitherto was stainless, are to blame if people
passing on the street point at it! Alas! alas! Our honour, our ancient,
unsullied name!"

Groaning aloud, the father struck his brow with his clenched hand; but
when Els rose and passed her arm around his shoulders to speak words of
consolation, Eva, who hitherto had vainly struggled for words, could
endure no more.

"Whoever says that of me, my father," she exclaimed with flashing eyes;
scarcely able to control her voice, "has opened his ears to slander;
and whoever terms Heinz Schorlin a worthless tempter, is blinded by a
delusion, and I call him to his face, even were it my own father,
to whom I owe gratitude and respect--"

But here she stopped and extended her arms to keep off the deeply angered
man, for he had started forward with quivering lips, and--she perceived
it clearly--was already under the spell of one of the terrible fits of