had a few old trinkets,' he answered, 'which I had carried with me
from France. They were hidden in my travelling chest, and I had not even
looked at them these many years. They reminded me of another life, a life
which has nothing to do with the old schoolmaster of Guestrow,' he added
with a sigh. He laid a packet on the table, cut the string with his
knife, and began to undo four long rolls within, disclosing the bright
edges of twenty-five golden gulden in each roll. 'Twenty-five, fifty,
seventy-five, a hundred,' he counted out.

Wilhelmine looked curiously at the coins; she had seldom seen gold pieces
before, and never in a large quantity. She laid her hand on one of the
rouleaux. 'Gold is power, they say,' she murmured.

'The getting of gold is pain,' the old man answered, and he took her hand
in his, drawing hers away from the golden heap.

At that moment the door opened silently, and Frau von Graevenitz stood on
the threshold. She looked from one to the other, she saw the money on the
table, and Wilhelmine's sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks. Monsieur
Gabriel's face she could not see, for it was turned away from her towards
Wilhelmine; but she could see that he held her hand in his, and all her
suspicions re-awoke.

'What is this?' she said: 'Monsieur Gabriel, why are you bringing money
to my daughter?' Both Wilhelmine and her friend started. 'For her journey
to Stuttgart, madame,' he answered. 'Her journey?' said the old woman,
'what journey? What do you mean?'

'Ah! Mademoiselle Wilhelmine has perhaps not had time to communicate her
plans to you, madame,' he replied courteously. 'She told me of her
brother's letter, and as I thought that madame had perhaps not got so
large a sum of money at her disposal at the moment, I have ventured to
make a little gift to my favourite pupil, to enable her to accept her
brother's proposition. Believe me, madame, I esteem it an honour to be of
service to one whose wonderful gift of music has made my poor life so
much happier than it could have been otherwise.'

'Wilhelmine, what is the meaning of this?' cried Frau von Graevenitz in
her sharpest tones. 'You have received a letter from my son, of which you
have not informed me! You plan things with a stranger, and I am told
nothing! You receive money from a man--what for, I should like to know? I
dare not say what terrible thoughts all this awakens in me. Give me your
brother's letter immediately!' Her voice had risen high