sonment greatly
depressed her, and she longed unutterably for the open country, the
fields and the forest. Yet she never expressed a wish to leave the city,
for--Georg was in Leyden, and every waking and dreaming thought was
associated with him. She loved him to-day, loathed him tomorrow, and did
both with all the ardor of her passionate heart. She often thought of her
sister too, and uttered many prayers for her. To win the favor of Heaven
by good works and escape ennui, she helped the Grey Sisters, who lived in
a little old convent next to Herr Van der Werff's house, nurse the sick
whole they had lovingly received, and even went with Sister Gonzaga to
the houses of the Catholic citizens, to collect alms for the little
hospital. But all this was done without joyous self-devotion, sometimes
with extravagant zeal, sometimes lazily, and for days not at all. She had
become excessively irritable, but after being unbearably arrogant one
day, would seem sorrowful and ill at ease the next, though without asking
the offended person's pardon.

The young girl now stood behind the closed window, watching Georg, who
with a bold spring dashed at the leathern figure and ran the sword in his
right hand through the phantom's red heart.

The soldiers loudly expressed their admiration. Henrica's eye, also
sparkled approvingly, but suddenly they lost their light, and she stepped
farther back into the room, for Maria came out of the workshops in the
court-yard and, with her gaze fixed on the ground, walked past the
fencers.

The young wife had grown paler, but her clear blue eyes had gained a more
confident, resolute expression. She had learned to go her own way, and
sought and found arduous duties in the service of the city and the poor.
She had remained conqueror in many a severe conflict of the heart, but
the struggle was not yet over; she felt this whenever Georg's path
crossed hers. As far as possible she avoided him, for she did not conceal
from herself, that the attempt to live with him on the footing of a
friend and brother, would mean nothing but the first step on the road to
ruin for him and herself. That he was honestly aiding her by a strong
effort at self-control, she gratefully felt, for she stood heart to heart
with her husband on the ship of life. She wished no other guide; nay the
thought of going to destruction with Peter had no terror to her. And yet,
yet! Georg was like the magnetic mountain, that attracted her, and w