This, to some, might seem a very singular missive from a man of the world like Frauenstein—a man sure of himself, confident of his power, and accustomed to the caresses of women. But there are others who will understand from it, that Paul was deeply in love; and that just in proportion to the strength of this passion in certain high natures, while there is any doubt of its meeting a perfect response, there is always great weakness, and a humility that creates self-distrust. The fear that his love might fail to awaken a perfect response, at times overwhelmed him and made him as weak as a little child. He had wooed other women boldly; but this one, he could not approach. To trouble her serene soul with his passion seemed like an impertinence. He saw himself, like Adam in Paradise, standing naked and trembling before a divinely superior being, who held his fate in her hands. He could do nothing but wait some sign from her—some unmistakable, slight sign, that so gracious a lady must know well how to convey. Could she hesitate because of a dead legal tie? That should not hamper free expression of sentiment in a grand, self-poised woman, the daughter of such a man as Dr. Forest, though it might hinder the fruition of hopes. Busy as Paul was with his pressing responsibilities, it was impossible to banish the thought of Clara from one of his waking moments. Between him and every object, her fair face appeared, and the memory of her tender eyes, her entrancing smile, the play of her mobile features, and her soft voice, were dearer far to him than all the realities of life. “Some time she _must_ love me!” he said. “A grand passion cannot exist when one object is passive. It is not her beauty that draws me; it must be love answering unto love.” About the time Clara received her first letter from the count, there arrived a formidable legal document from Boston—a copy of Dr. Delano’s divorce. What he had said to her during their last interview, proved no idle prediction. Clara ran her eye down the page of “legal-cap” until she came to the last paragraph, which read: “_And it is further ordered and adjudged that it shall be lawful for the said complainant to marry again, in the same manner as though the said defendant were actually dead; but it shall not be lawful for the said defendant to marry again until the said complainant be actually dead._”