elf on the family;
charged her parents with blameworthy infirmity of purpose, and,
in short, declined all reconciliation.

The stay of the young people under the parental roof was brief; but
even these few days were stormy, and sufficed to divide the family
connexions into two parties, for and against the Von Zwenkens. Aunt
Sophia's strong point was the irregularity of the marriage, solemnized
in a foreign country. Those who disagreed with her and recognized
the Swiss captain as a relation, she looked upon as deadly enemies;
while those who took her side in the contest were received by Baron
and Baroness Roselaer with freezing coolness. In a word, it was the
history of the Montagues and the Capulets re-enacted on a small scale
in the eighteenth century on Dutch territory. They did not attack each
other with dagger and poison, but used the tongue for weapon. They
annoyed, they insulted each other, whenever and wherever they found
an opportunity; there were hair-splitting disputes, and retaliation
without truce or pity; and lawsuits followed which swallowed large sums
of money. A good business for the lawyers, who only made "confusion
worse confounded."

When old Baroness Roselaer--who always pleaded for peace and
forgiveness--shortly afterwards died, Sophia thought she would be
able to exert unlimited influence over her father, as she now became
the recognized mistress of the house. She even took advantage of
her position, during the stay of her brother-in-law for the funeral,
to make him so uncomfortable, that on leaving the house he told the
old Baron he would never enter it again. Sophia was in triumph. She
thought she had banished Von Zwenken from the house; but she forgot
her sister's children, and the joy and pride the old Baron was likely
to take in a grandson and future heir to his title and estates. Though
he never talked to Sophia on the subject, he was secretly embittered
against her as being the cause of this new estrangement, and his great
pleasure was to visit his grandchildren; and what is more surprising,
Sophia never suspected these visits.

Try, then, to imagine the effect produced upon her when her father's
will was read, and she found that the Castle de Werve, with its
seignorial rights, descended to Madame von Zwenken and her children.

It is true she inherited a just share of the property; but the very
part she loved best, the home of her childhood, where she had been
brought up, and which she