. I can now bid
you farewell with consolation in my heart, for, whichever way the war
may end, you can appear unconstrained before my father, who will
rejoice to hear of your having made the heavy sacrifice for my sake."

Marie now gave her friends the signal that she was unable to retain the
clerk of the council any longer, which roused them from their absorbing
conversation. Bertha quickly composed herself, and with Albert quitted
the arbour.

"Cousin Kraft wishes to depart," said Marie, "and requires his friend
to accompany him."

"I must indeed go with you, if I wish to find my way home," replied the
young man, who was too well acquainted with the received customs of his
day, not to be aware that he, a stranger, could not remain with the
young ladies, without their cousin being of the party, precious as the
last moments, before a long separation from his love, might be to him.

They proceeded down the garden, the silence only broken by Dieterick,
who expressed his sorrow, in very courteous terms, at the prospect of
his cousin leaving Ulm so soon as the morrow. But Marie, thinking she
discovered something in the look of Albert's eye, which expressed a
wish not yet satisfied, and to the accomplishment of which witnesses
might be unwelcome, drew cousin Kraft on one side, and questioned him
so closely upon a plant, whose leaves were just bursting, that he had
not time to observe what was going on behind his back.

Albert took immediate advantage of the happy moment, and pressed Bertha
once more to his heart. The noise occasioned by her heavy silken dress,
and the clattering of his sword, drew the scribe's attention from his
botanical observations; he looked around, and oh, wonder! he saw his
very reserved cousin in the arms of his guest.

"That was a salute for the dear cousin in Franconia, I suppose?" he
remarked, after he had recovered from his surprise.

"No, Mr. Secretary," answered Albert, with firmness, "it was a salute
for me alone, and from her whom I hope one day to call my own. Have you
anything to say against it, my friend?"

"God forbid! I congratulate you with all my heart," answered Dieterick,
somewhat subdued by the determined look of the young man. "But, by the
powers, I call that an entire case of _veni_, _vidi_, _vici_. I have
been trying my luck with the beauty for more than a quarter of a year,
and I can scarcely boast of one kind look from her during the whole
time."

"Forgive the joke, c