l that this pains me, from you of all people," and her eyes grew
moist. "Now I can only request that you will instantly leave me, and
never return," and with that she laid the flowers and song down before
him on the table, and spite of his distracted assurances and
entreaties, with burning face and tearful eyes she contrived to elude
him, and not only left the little inner room, but the shop as well.

It was in vain that he awaited her return; in her stead the
square-built woman entered, but apparently without the least idea of
what it was that had scared the young girl away. A full half-hour he
continued in a most miserable state of mind to occupy his accustomed
seat on the sofa. But as she remained invisible, he at length took his
departure, and once in the street, plucked the nosegay to pieces, and
tore up the song into shreds, and--"There," he cried, "is that wretched
pin that has made all the mischief, you may take it, and give it to
whom you will! I could hardly resist the temptation as I came along to
open a vein with it."

"And is that all?" enquired I coolly, when he had come to an end of his
shrift.

He sprang up as if to rush away. "I see I might have spared myself this
visit!" he cried. "You are in so philosophical a mood that a friend
expiring at your side would seem nothing to wonder at. Good-night."

"Stay," I remonstrated. "You ought to be very glad that one of us at
least has the use of his five senses. The story of the pin is a mere
trifle. Who knows whether she did not reject it after all from the
superstitious fancy that pins pierce friendship. Or even if there were
more in it, if she actually felt a suspicion that you meant it as a
bribe, that is still no cause for desperation; on the contrary she has
proved that she is a good girl, and respects herself; and if you go to
her in the morning as though nothing had happened, and in your own
true-hearted way explain--"

"You forget she has forbidden me to return."

"Nonsense! I would bet anything that she is already very sorry she did
so. Such a faithful Fridolin is not to be met with every day, and
whatever she may think she feels for you--whether much or little--she
would be conscious of missing something if you left off eating your two
cherry tarts daily, and she no longer had to strew the sugar over them
with her little white hand. Teach me to understand women indeed!"

He gazed for a long time at the lamp. "You would do me a kindness by
goin