deserve to be a member of this family. Now I
have the necklace that my sister-in-law sent me, around my neck, and do
not mind being tied, and--Good-night!"

She reached out her hand to my wife, and then to each one of us. After
which she again grasped my wife's hand, and then retired.

Richard explained Martella's peculiar characteristics to the Major.
Both in thought and in action she was a strange compound of gentleness
and rudeness.

The Major asked whether we knew anything about her parents. Richard
replied that she had imparted facts to him that bore on the subject,
but that they were as yet disconnected and unsatisfactory, and that he
had given her his word of honor that he would reveal naught, until she
herself thought that the proper time had come.

We kept up our cheerful conversation for some time longer. Suddenly it
occurred to the Major to observe that the dispute between Prussia and
Austria was taking a dangerous shape, and that, according to his views,
Prussia was in the right. The military system of the confederation
could not last long in its present condition.

Thus we were brought face to face with serious questions.

Of what import was the transformation of a child of the forest, when
such weighty matters were on the carpet.

But while the clouds pass by over our heads, and the seasons depart,
the little plant quietly and steadily keeps on growing.

CHAPTER X.

In the winter of 1865 I left home to attend a session of the
Parliament.

My neighbor Funk, who was also a delegate, accompanied me.

It grieves me to be obliged to describe this man or even to mention
him.

He caused me much sorrow. He humiliated me more than any other man has
ever done, for he proved to me that I have neither worldly wisdom nor
knowledge of men. How could I have so egregiously deceived myself in
him? I am too hasty in determining as to the character of a man, and
when I afterwards find that his actions are not in keeping with my
conception of what they should be, the inconsistency torments me as if
it were an unsolved enigma. In one word, I have suffered much because
of a lack of reserve. Unfortunately I must give all or nothing. Even
now I cannot help thinking that he must be better, after all, than he
seems. I find, on comparing myself with him, that he has many an
advantage over me. He is twenty years younger than I am, and yet he
seems as if he had matured long ago. I