since then have we spoken of this hour! O Rosalie! long is it since
I have been able to open my heart as before thee at this moment.
What use is it to have a friend if one cannot lay before him one's
whole thoughts? To no one have I been able to unfold them but to
thee, who already knowest them. I suffer, as a criminal and yet am
I innocent,--just as the misshapen, the deformed man, is innocent
of his ugliness!"

"I do not possess thy knowledge, Otto," said Rosalie, and pressed
his hand; "have never rejoiced in such a clear head as thine; but I
have that which thou canst not as yet possess--experience. In
trouble, as well as in joy, youth transforms the light cobweb into
the cable. Self-deception has changed the blood in thy veins, the
thoughts in thy soul; but do not forever cling to this one black
spot! Neither wilt thou! it will spur thee on to activity, will
enervate thy soul, not depress thee! The melancholy surprise of thy
grandfather's death, whom thou didst believe active and well, has
now made thee dejected, and thy thoughts so desponding. But there
will come better days! happy days! Thou art young, and youth brings
health for the soul and body!"

She led Otto into the garden, where the willow plantations
protected the other trees from the sharp west wind. The gooseberry-bushes
bore fruit, but it was not yet ripe: one bush Otto had planted when
a cutting; it was now large. Rosalie had tied the twigs to a palisade,
so that, as an espalier, it could thoroughly drink in the sun's rays.
Otto regarded the fetters more than the good intention.

"Let it grow free!" said he; "if that brittle palisade should
tumble down, the twigs would be broken." And he cut the bands.