"That is possible; at any rate, none of the young men found favor in her eyes, though Emil was slightly preferred; but only, he says, because he was the only Jew in the Christian establishment, and therefore in some degree rebuffed by the others--the position of the Jews thirty years ago, you must know, was even more precarious and uncomfortable than it is now, although even now everything is perhaps not quite what it should be. At any fate, she treated the man worst whose outward circumstances entitled him to the most consideration--namely, her cousin Eduard, the only son of the house, a quiet, shy young man, who loved her passionately. Emil says that even now it makes the tears come into his eyes when he thinks of the time that Eduard, who was his most intimate friend, spoke of what he suffered, not in pompous, high-sounding words, which would not have been at all like him, but so gently, so resignedly--" "I can't bear these gentle, resigned men," said Alma. "They seldom succeed, as poor Eduard's example shows. But to be sure, she refused very different people, who were by no means gentle and resigned--officers, barons, and counts: she was the wonder of the city, and the idol of all the young men, and she noticed them no more than the sun heeds the mist." "You are really getting poetical," said Alma. "It is one of Emil's comparisons, he always grows poetical when he speaks of her--till at last the right one came." "The country Pastor. Gracious Heavens! _Tant de bruit pour une omelette_," said Alma. "Excuse me, it was nothing of that sort; on the contrary, he was a very remarkable man, who had turned the heads of as many women as she had men. And it was not confined to women; many men, and those by no means the least important, were also very enthusiastic about him, among others, my Emil, who since he was baptized on our wedding-day, has not set foot inside of a church, but then, Jew as he was, attended regularly every Sunday the service held by the young Substitute--I believe that's what they call them. The whole city went, he says; people stood at the doors, and even outside, just to see him come in. In a word, this young preacher was the right man. How they became acquainted with each other I don't know, and it is of no consequence. To see and love each other was the same thing. Her foster-parents, who on Eduard's account were glad to get her out of the house, of course gave their consent at once, although the little parish here in Rammin on which they married was a place to starve rather than live in. So they left Stettin, and came here, and--" "The story ends," said Alma, "as all stories which begin in such a remarkable manner usually do--in commonplace poverty. But I don't see yet from all this how Gotthold got his half million."