from the centre of
the earth can two pendulums make the same number of vibrations in a
given time.

Lenz became every day more quiet and reserved. Whenever he and his wife
talked together, he was filled with amazement at the many words she
used about every little thing. If he said in the morning, "The mist is
heavy to-day," she would reply, in her animated manner, "Yes,
remarkably so for the season. Still it may come out pleasant. There is
no prophesying about the weather up here in the mountains. Every one
judges according to his own desires. One hopes it will rain, another
that it will be clear, as each has different projects on foot. If the
Lord tried to arrange the weather to suit all tastes, he would have his
hands full. Like that magician--" Here would come a story, and, on the
end of that, another, and still others. This was her way of running on
upon every conceivable subject, as if she were entertaining a teamster
while his horse was eating in the stall, or beguiling the anxiety of a
hurried guest, who had ordered dinner, and would have some time yet to
wait, in spite of the quickly laid cloth and plates.

Lenz shrugged his shoulders, and relapsed into perfect silence, which
lasted sometimes for days. "What a tiresome, unsocial companion you
are!" his wife often said, at first good-naturedly, then sharply. He
smiled at the rebuke, yet it wounded him.

The fears entertained of the manufactory were not realized; on
the contrary, a fresh impetus was given to domestic industry.
The manufactory confined itself at first to the casting of zinc
dial-plates, which found a ready market. Lenz quite prided himself on
having foretold that such would be the case, and received many
compliments on his sagacity. His wife alone refused to see anything
praiseworthy in it. Of course a man should be the best judge of matters
connected with his own business. "Nevertheless," she added, "the
engineer and the doctor's son will grow rich while the clockmakers
think themselves lucky to be allowed to keep on in their former ruts.
Old Proebler is the best of you, after all; he does at least try to
invent something new."

Whatever else went wrong, Lenz was happy in his work. "When I get up in
the morning," he said to Annele, "and think of the day's honest work
that lies before me, and the satisfaction of seeing it prosper in my
hands, I feel a perpetual sunshine within me."

"You are a good hand at preaching; you ought to have been a