thought in my mind, if she would not have had a better life of it if she had really been my child? For to be great and rich is all very well, but I think, nevertheless, those whom God loves are born poor. I should never have dreamt of selling my own blood and flesh for vile Mammon; I should never have been on my knees before my own child, beseeching her to marry such and such a person to save her father from disgrace, when I knew very well she did not love him, but that he had money enough to pay all my debts and to keep enough for her and for him. And matters were not quite so bad yet with Baron Barnewitz. What he had lost at play he might have won again at play, and he did win a good deal back again, so that he often told me afterwards, when he had taken a little too much: 'If I had known, Baumann, that I would have such luck at faro, then the--it is an ugly word and an honest man don't like to use it too often--then I would have given that man Berkow something else, but not my daughter. My only consolation is, he won't live long, and then she can marry to please her heart.' Well, my master did not live long himself, but long enough to see with his own eyes the mischief he had done. Then he would have given his life to undo what he had done, but those who deal with the devil need not wonder if God leaves them to their master. So the beautiful young lady became a widow, and yet she was not a widow. She had money enough now, but I think she would have been happier if she had lived under a thatched roof with a good man, than so miserably alone in a big, lonely house, There was Julius, to be sure; but one swallow does not make a summer, and a child is not a family. You see, sir, that often made my heart bleed, and when I saw my mistress wander so lonely through the garden of an evening, I have often prayed to God to take poor Baron Berkow in mercy up into heaven, and to let my poor mistress be happy for once in her life, like other women who are not worthy to unloose the latchet of her shoes. The man need not be rich, for she has enough for both, if wealth there must be--but he ought to have a head and a heart of the right sort, and he ought to love her better than the apple of his eye. And if I knew such a man, and could get her such a husband, and saw her happy by the side of such a man--then I should pray: Now, Lord, let thy servant depart in peace!--But here we are at the gate. Well, goodnight, sir! If you should have an answer ready to-morrow morning to the letter of my mistress, I will wait for it, between five and six, a little distance down the forest. My mistress would be glad, I am sure, if you were to write soon." "I shall be there punctually at five," said Oswald. "Well, half an hour does not matter," said Old Baumann, mounting his horse again. "The mail does not leave before eight o'clock, and till then Brownlock can make the way twice. I wish you once more good-night, sir."