as one has the consciousness of being an honest man, one can bear all
adversity with a certain relish. Relish is the right word. The ground is to
be sold any day, for the owner has lately gained a rich estate by marriage,
and leaves this rubbish entirely uncultivated."

"Think well over it first, Max," the woman pleaded, in great anxiety.

"What is the good of hesitating?" he replied, violently. "We must not be a
burden to this Mr. Douglas, and we cannot lay claim to anything better
with our miserable two thousand thalers; therefore, let us seize upon it
promptly." And without taking time to say good-bye to the sick woman, he
strode away.

A few minutes later she heard his dog-cart driving away through the gate.

In the afternoon of the same day a strange visitor was announced. A
beautiful, distinguished lady was said to have driven into the yard in a
smart carriage, who wished to pay a visit to the mistress in her sick-
room.

"Who was it?" She had refused to give her name.

"How strange!" thought Frau Elsbeth; but as in her grief she was beginning
to believe in special providences, she did not say no.

The door opened. A slender, delicate figure, with gentle, refined features,
approached the bed of the sick woman with gliding steps. Without speaking a
word she seized her hand and said, in a soft, slightly veiled voice:

"I have concealed my name, dear Mrs. Meyerhofer, for I feared you would