severing; "if you
do not help me out of this scrape, I know not where to turn. Our colonel
is not to be trifled with. I risk the loss of all if the matter be not
soon settled and hushed up." And in his distress he took Anton's hand
and pressed it.

Anton looked at the troubled face of Lenore's brother, and replied with
an inward struggle: "I have a little sum belonging to me invested in the
funds of our house, and have now got money to transmit thither; it would
be possible to tell the cashier to take my money and to keep back the
sum you require."

"You are my deliverer," cried Eugene, suddenly relieved; "in a month, at
latest, I will repay you the eight hundred dollars," added he, inclined
at the speedy prospect of money to hope the best.

Anton went to his desk and counted out the sum. It was the larger part
of what still remained of his inheritance.

When Eugene had with warmest thanks pocketed the money, Anton began:
"And now, Herr von Rothsattel, I wish to communicate something which
weighed upon my heart all yesterday evening. I beg that you will not
consider me intrusive if I tell you what you ought to know, and yet what
a stranger has hardly a right to say."

"If you are going to sermonize me, the moment is ill chosen," replied
the lieutenant, sulkily. "I know perfectly that I have done a stupid
thing, and am in for a lecture from my papa. I do not wish to hear from
another what I must listen to from him."

"You trust very little to my good feeling," cried Anton, indignantly; "I
yesterday heard from a very singular source that your father has got
into difficulties through the intrigues of an unprincipled speculator. I
even heard the name of the man who is plotting his ruin."

The lieutenant looked in amazement at Anton's earnest face, and at last
said, "The devil! you frighten me. But no, it is impossible. Papa has
never told me any thing about his affairs being out of order."

"Perhaps he himself does not know the schemes, or the worthlessness of
the men who mean to use his credit for their own ends."

"The Baron of Rothsattel is not the man to be made a tool of by any
one."

"That I agree to," said Anton, readily; "and yet I must beg you to
reflect that his late extensive undertakings may have brought him into
contact with cunning and unprincipled traders. He who gave me this
information evidently did it with a good purpose. He announced his
belief, which is, I fear, widely shared by a number of i