ave him a similar touching assurance, with
more to the same effect. Yes, Regine, the day has gone by when we can
keep the children in leading strings. When they get ready, they want to
choose their own partners for life and I must say they're not far
wrong."

The last sentence was uttered with seeming carelessness, but Regine
understand it fully. Thoughtfully she repeated:

"Walldorf? The name is strange to me. When did Toni meet him?"

"He is a friend of my son and came home with him on his last visit. As a
result of that visit, I met the mother, and she invited Toni to spend a
few weeks with her, and that's where all the courting was done. But I
have no reason to feel dissatisfied. Walldorf's a handsome fellow, and
lively, and head over heels in love; he seems a little light and frothy
now, but that will disappear when he gets a sensible wife like Toni.
These model sons are not always to my taste; they get too skittish when
they break loose. We have an example of that in Will. Walldorf will
resign in the Autumn. I won't have my Toni marrying a lieutenant; I will
buy them an estate and they will be married at Christmas."

"I am greatly rejoiced on Toni's account," said Frau von Eschenhagen,
heartily. "You take a great load from my heart by this news."

"And now," said the head forester, nodding to her, "you should follow my
example and take a load from the heart of another betrothed couple. Be
reasonable, Regine, and give in. Little Marietta is a dear, good girl,
if she has sung in a theatre. Every one speaks highly of her. You need
never be ashamed of your daughter-in-law."

Regine rose suddenly and pushed her chair back with a violent movement.

"I beg you, Moritz, once for all, to spare me such requests. I will
stand by my word. Willibald knows the conditions under which I shall
return to Burgsdorf. If he does not fulfill them, we are better apart."

"It will be a long time before he will do that," said her
brother-in-law, dryly. "When a man is asked to abandon the woman he
loves for a mother's whim, he's not apt to do it if he's made of the
right stuff."

"You express yourself very freely," said Frau Regine, angrily. "But what
does a man know of a mother's love or of the gratitude of children? You
are all an ungrateful, heedless, selfish--"

"Hold! I have something to say for my own sex," von Schoenau began
excitedly. Suddenly, however, he leaned forward and said in a changed
tone:

"We haven't seen ea