ain that Fink has done this?"

"Not a doubt of it. It is exactly like him. It is the same reckless,
unscrupulous spirit, that neither heeds the life nor the reputation of a
friend."

Sabine fell back in her chair, and again her heart swelled with
indignation. "Oh, how sad it is!" cried she; "but Wohlfart is innocent,
that I am convinced of. Such falsehoods are not in his nature."

"I shall know to-morrow," said the merchant; "for his own sake, I hope
you are right."

The next day the principal summoned Anton to his own apartment, and
telling him the rumors that had arisen, asked him what he had done to
contradict them.

Anton replied in much amazement, "That he knew nothing of such rumors as
these; that sometimes, indeed, he had been joked with as to his means,
but that he had always avowed how small they were."

"Have you spoken decidedly?" asked the merchant, severely.

"I believe that I have," was the honest reply.

"These idle tales would not signify," continued the principal, "but that
they expose you to the charge of having sought, by unworthy means, to
gain a position to which you are not entitled, and also that they tend
to degrade your parents' reputation, for it is given out that you are
the son of a man of very high rank."

"Oh my mother!" cried Anton, wringing his hands, and the tears rolling
down his cheeks. As soon as he could control his emotion, he said,

"The most painful part of all this is, that you should have supposed me
capable of circulating these falsehoods. I implore you to believe that I
never knew of them till now."

"I am glad to believe it," said the merchant; "but you have done much to
substantiate them. You have appeared in a circle and incurred expenses
which were alike unsuited to your position and your fortune."

Anton felt that he would greatly prefer the centre of the earth to its
surface. At length he cried, "I know it--you are right--nay, I knew it
all the time; and especially since I found that I had run into
debt"--here the merchant smiled almost imperceptibly--"I have felt that
I was on the wrong road altogether, though I did not know how to retrace
my steps. But now I will lose no more time."

"Was it not Fink who introduced you to that circle? Perhaps," said the
merchant, "he may be able to throw some light on the affair."

"Allow me to call him," said Anton, "and let him be witness as to
whether I knew of this."

"Certainly, if it be any satisfaction to you;"