[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
entire meal of them. D.W.]





MARGERY

By Georg Ebers

Volume 4.




CHAPTER XV.

We reached the forest lodge that evening with red faces and half-frozen
hands and feet. The ride through the deep snow and the bitter December
wind had been a hard one; but the woods in their glittering winter
shroud, the sharp, refreshing breath of the pure air, and a thousand
trifling matters--from the white hats that crowned every stock and stone
to the tiny crystals of snow that fell on the green velvet of my fur-
lined bodice--were a joy to me, albeit my heart was heavy with care. The
evening star had risen or ever we reached the house; and out here, under
God's open heavens, among the giants of the forest and its sturdy,
weather-beaten folk, it scarce seemed that it could be true that I should
see my bright, young Ann sharing the sorry life of the Magister, an alien