even become enthusiastic about what was really great and beautiful, although his enthusiasm did not last but a few moments, and vanished like a pretty bright soap-bubble, with its thousand varying hues, at the first rising of a frivolous thought. Who knows but that, at that moment, he resolved to lead another life hereafter, and to lay aside his follies?--and he had such a very good opinion of himself that no doubt he thought it sufficient to resolve in order to succeed. He listened to the music with a vague sense of reverence. His knowledge of music told him that the Sonata could not have been played better, or with more expression; he whispered at one or two passages: Brava! brava! as if he had been in a concert-room. But Helen and Beethoven, virtue and music, and whatever else might at that moment have passed through his mind--all vanished in an instant, like a Fata Morgana, when his ear heard a stealthy step approaching. It came from another direction than that from which Felix expected his friend. But, then, pretty Louisa might have gone out of her way to avoid the walks which the moon lighted up with its bright light. The steps came nearer and nearer, and Felix, conceiving the original idea of playing hide and seek, stole back into the shrubbery. But what was his surprise when he saw, instead of pretty Louisa, Bruno glide past him! He could not help laughing at his mistake; but the next moment it occurred to him how this might endanger his rendezvous, and that it would probably be wiser to go back to the house. "Who knows how long the boy may loiter about here? may be he is in love, or he is crazy? He looks as if he might be either. Or he is moon-struck, and walks about here for a few hours. The rascal! He is always in my way; I have a great mind to give him a tangible proof of my friendly attachment for him. At all events I had better leave here. It is not too late yet to plead my love of moonlight for being out, but in a little while the excuse would hardly avail. I mean, however, to tell my excellent aunt of these night excursions of Mr. Stein's pupils." Felix had nearly reached the house on his return without seeing Bruno, and was already hoping the boy might have left the garden, and his rendezvous might still be accomplished, when he suddenly caught sight of Bruno, just as he was crossing the lawn. The boy was sitting on a bench, his eyes fixed on Helen's window, from which music was still pouring forth; and so perfectly lost in devotion that he did not notice Felix till the latter was quite near him. "What are you doing here so late at night?" asked Felix, whose anger sought vent at least in a few rough words; "I shall tell your aunt." "Mind your own affairs," said Bruno, who had started up in the first surprise, advancing a few steps; but now, as he recognized Felix, whom he hated, he stopped in bold defiance. "You are an impertinent boy," said Felix.