key of F minor:

"Oh! calm and holy night!
Those glowing worlds of light--
Heaven's eyes--begin to tread their mystic measure.
Soar high, like sweet bells far-off chime,
Night Hymn of Love, in silv'ry rhyme--
Beat at Heaven's gate, in rhythmic, pulsant measure."

At the words "soar high," etc., the music had gone into the key of D
flat major, and now Lothair and Ottmar came in, in B flat minor:

"Oh! saintly souls above,
That burn in holy love,
With heart and tongue all pure from earthly tainting,
Drop down some balm on this poor heart,
Which fails, and droops, in bitter smart,
Contending here--in conflict well-nigh fainting."

Then, finally, the four voices ended in F major:

"Knock, knock, and soon the angel's voice will say,
'The gates are open! enter in for aye!'"

All of them--Lothair, Ottmar, and Cyprian--felt much affected by
Theodore's lovely music, which was in the simple, serious style of the
early masters. The tears came to their eyes. They embraced the clever
composer; they pressed him to their hearts. The clocks tolled midnight.

"Blessed be our reunion!" cried Lothair. "Oh! glorious Serapion
Brotherhood, which binds us with an eternal chain! May it ever keep
green and flourish! As we have done to-night, we will continue to
refresh and vivify our minds in the paths of literature and art; and
our next care will be to assemble again here at our Theodore's, at the
same time in the evening, this day week."

SECTION II.

Seven o'clock struck. Theodore was expecting his friends impatiently.
At last Ottmar came in.

"Leander has just been with me," he said; "that was what detained me. I
told him how sorry I was that I was called away by a pressing
engagement. He insisted on walking with me as far as the place I was
going to, but I slipped away from him in the dark--not without some
difficulty. I know he knew quite well I was coming here, and wanted to
come too."

"And you haven't brought him?" said Theodore. "He would have been most
welcome."

"No, no," said Ottmar, "that would never have answered at all. In the
first place, I don't consider that I have any right to bring in a
stranger--or, if Leander is not exactly a stranger, any fifth person
whatever--without the unanimous consent of the Se