forgotten. With tears in his eyes and a voice tremulous with deep
emotion, he drew Wolf toward him, kissing first his head, which reached
only to his lips, then his cheeks and brow. Then, with youthful
vivacity, he expressed his pleasure in seeing him again, and, without
permitting Wolf to speak, he repeatedly exclaimed:

"And my Wawerl, and Ursel in there! There'll be a jubilee!"

When Wolf had at last succeeded in returning his old friend's greeting
and then expressed a wish, first of all, to clasp the faithful old maid-
servant's hand, the old gentleman's beaming face clouded, and he said,
sighing:

"What has not befallen us here since you went away, my dear Wolf! My
path has been bordered with tombstones as poplars line the highway. But
we will let the dead rest. Nothing can now disturb their peace. Old
Ursel, too, is longing for the end of life, and we ought not to grudge it
to her. Only I dread the last hour, and still more the long eternity
which will follow it, for the good, patient woman entered the snare of
the Satanic Protestant doctrine, and will not hear of taking the holy
sacrament."

Wolf begged him to admit him at once, but Blomberg declared that, after
the attack of apoplexy which she had recently had, one thing and another
might happen if she should so unexpectedly see the man to whom her whole
heart clung. Wolf would do better first to surprise the girl upstairs,
who had no suspicion of his presence. He, Blomberg, must look after the
old woman now. He would carry those things--he pointed to the parcels
which the boys had left--into the young nobleman's old room. Ursel had
always kept it ready for his return, as though she expected him daily.