over me. Why must I try my luck
at L---- Why should it be one of the three sisters. Possibly I need not
look so far to find what I desire."

"You ought to be ashamed of your vacillation," she answered with
comical solemnity. "Is this the courage you boasted of? Come, rouse
your spirits, and replace the stolen apple in your pocket. The sin you
have committed by this theft, can only be expiated by the more
difficult task of stealing the heart of one of the sisters. Come, I
hear the carriage driving to the door. You have excited my curiosity,
and I shall not rest till it is satisfied."

When the carriage had left the town, and was rolling smoothly along the
even road, Valentine broke the silence. "I have become acquainted with
your son, Eugenie," he said.

"You must praise him to me," she hastily returned; "I am a very proud
mother, he is the very image of his father."

"I thought so," he resumed. "The face seemed strange to me. I only
recognized the mouth. This mouth is strikingly like yours, Eugenie."

She turned away towards, the carriage window, and her eyes wandered
over the landscape, which had now contracted, so as to form a narrow
valley surrounded on both sides by steep vineyards. The mist had
entirely cleared away, and the wet tendrils and leaves of the vines
sparkled in the bright sunlight. The river bordered with willows, and
alders flowed smoothly by the road side, and small barges glided
rapidly along the current. Nothing is so refreshing and enlivening as a
drive on a fine autumn day. Valentine experienced its charm and soon
resumed the conversation. He enquired after the health of her mother,
and after a while Eugenie began to speak of her husband. "You would
have been his friend, Valentine," she gravely said. "He was an
excellent man, and a brave officer and he had a profound and unaffected
admiration for all that is good and beautiful. Those who did not know
him intimately thought him cold and indifferent, but inwardly, he was
full of generous warmth which he kept for his family, his friends and
those who were in want. My mother still grieves for him, as she grieved
for my father. I hope that Frederick will some day resemble him in
every respect."

Valentine was silent for a long time. At last he asked, without looking
at his companion, "Have you never thought of choosing a second husband
among the many suitors who no doubt have surrounded you?"

"No, my dear friend," she answered quietly. "Passi