ily able to procure her a situation in the family of
one of her former pupils; or she might have resumed the position of a
hospital nurse, for which she had been trained at Darmstadt, having been
taken on as an assistant in the convalescent home established in that
town by the late Princess Alice of Hesse, when the Baroness Stolzenkop
turned her adrift. But Fritz would not hear of Madaleine's leaving his
mother.

"No," said he decisively to her, "your place is here with mutterchen,
who regards you as a daughter--don't you, mother?"

"Yes, indeed," answered the widow readily enough--"so long as I'm
spared."

"There, you see, you've no option," continued Fritz triumphantly.
"Mother would not be able to do without you now. Besides, it is not
necessary. I will be able to earn bread enough for all. Look at these
broad shoulders and strong arms, hey! What were they made for else, I'd
like to know?"

Still, Fritz did not find it so easy to get employment as he thought.

Herr Grosschnapper had kept the clerkship he had formerly filled in his
counting-house open for him some time after the commencement of the war;
but, finding that Fritz would be away much longer than he had expected,
he had been forced to employ a substitute in his place. This young man
had proved himself so diligent and active in mastering all the details
of the business in a short time, that the worthy shipowner did not wish
to discharge him now when his original clerk returned, and Fritz himself
would have been loth to press the matter; although, he had looked upon
his re-engagement in the merchant's office as a certainty when he came
back to Lubeck.

Fritz had thought, with that self-confidence which most of us possess,
that no one could possibly have kept Herr Grosschnapper's books or
calculated insurances with such ability as he could, and that the worthy
merchant would have been only too delighted to welcome so able a clerk
when he walked into the counting-house again. He had not lived long
enough to know that as good, or better, a man can always be found to
fill the place of even the best; and that, much as we may estimate our
own value, a proportionate equivalent can soon be supplied from other
sources!

So, much to Fritz's chagrin, on going down to the merchant's place of
business on the quay, all eagerness to resume work again on the old
footing, he found that he was not wanted: he would have to apply
elsewhere for employment.

"Oh,