The door opened: a female figure was about to enter; he turned, and the painful suspense escaped in a shrill exclamation,--"Prison Fairy!" The door was closed, and light footsteps rapidly retreated. As in a dream we often vainly strive to reach something with trembling haste, the width of the little space he must pass to pursue the fugitive seemed far too great for Ottmar. His hands trembled so violently in his hurry that he opened the heavy old lock with difficulty, and when he emerged she had disappeared. "Where is she?" he asked of a jailer who was just coming up the passage. "Does your lordship mean the Prison Fairy? I have not seen her to-day." "That is a lie! She was here just now." "Yes, your lordship, it may be so; she always bids the Herr Inspector good-morning before she goes to the prisoners." "Call the inspector here," said _Heinrich_, returning to the cell. The official, an elderly man, with honest features, obeyed the summons. "Herr Inspector," said _Heinrich_, sternly, "you have for several years allowed a lady secret access to the prisoners." "Yes, Herr Geheimrath," said the man, with dignified composure. "Have you ever received permission to do so from any higher authority?" "No, Herr Geheimrath." "And yet you have exceeded the limits of your instructions?" "I must bear the punishment patiently." "Are you so courageous?" "Herr Geheimrath," said the old man, modestly, "I have done what my own heart dictated, and was aware that in following my convictions of Christian duty I was violating only the letter, not the spirit, of my office." "A prison official, and possessed of a heart! The two do not harmonize, Herr Inspector." "Pardon me, I did not know it. I cherish the belief that our wise government desires to have the criminal justly not cruelly treated; and to serve the arm of justice is an office which a man who has a heart can hold, although it sometimes falls heavily upon it." "These are the subtle reasonings of the Prison Fairy, as she is called here. Yet I am disposed to pass over the affair if you will instantly tell me the lady's name, social position, and residence." "Herr Geheimrath," said the inspector, smiling, "I think if my offense deserves pardon you will be sufficiently just to grant it without conditions, for I cannot possibly fulfill those you have just mentioned." "Herr Inspector!" "Herr Geheimrath, I give you my word of honor that I do not know who the lady is, nor where she lives." "I must believe you; but in that case your course is all the more inexplicable." "I see, Herr Geheimrath, that I owe you a detailed account of the matter, and am ready to confirm each of my statements upon oath." "Well?" said _Heinrich_, with ill-repressed curiosity.