to settle down to any other mode of life, _any_ life in which you
were not the first and foremost. I have felt this for years, and shall
never feel otherwise probably as long as I live. But for you, there
must, of necessity, come a time, when the claims of your little mother
will have to be reduced by half; when she will have to content herself
with only a duty share in your thoughts and feelings; lucky if she does
not fare worse, and be stowed away in the lumber-room of memory, like
an antiquated piece of furniture. Don't you contradict me; I know well
enough what I have to expect, and a true mother never thinks of
herself. All mothers have to bear the same, and the best way to bear
it, is with a brave face; and now, away with care! For the present, I
am yours, and you are mine; and as far as I am concerned, nothing shall
ever part us. I give you my word, and here is my hand upon it, and
now--let us go to bed, and sleep upon it."

She rose, and he mechanically did the same. When she stood at the top
of the staircase, and he a few steps lower, she just reached to the
tall stripling's forehead; she threw her arms tenderly about his neck.

"You are not to get into the habit of that ugly frown, mind that!" she
said caressingly; "frowns don't become you, and you have no reason to
frown on life like any old grumpy misanthrope--such a spoiled creature
as you may well afford to laugh,--smooth away, I pray, all these
precocious wrinkles; and now, my son, good night!" She kissed him
softly on the forehead, and passed her hand lightly over his tangling
curls. Then, taking up her candle, she glided back into her own room.

* * * * *

The night that followed on such an eventful day, brought Helen both
repose and sleep. She believed her difficulties to be overcome, and her
troubles postponed for years at least. But she would hardly have looked
so cheerfully after Walter, as he walked away to his day's work at the
Burgermeister's Villa, had she known that he had not been able to close
his eyes till morning.

In painting that saloon, he was destined to have no assistance but that
of the two boys: the Meister being confined to his room, and Peter Lars
nowhere to be found. It was rumoured that he had been seen at the
"Star." It appeared to be his plan to stay away, and let himself be
missed so long as to be received with thanks, and not with abuse, when
he did come back at last. However the Me