eman's wounds; there is linen in the
cupboard; there are shirts in the press---he is to be treated _as
though he were my own son_. Go--I hear footsteps."

They all listened with beating hearts. In spite of the noise of the
rain, voices were audible in the garden. The next moment the old
servant had pushed the stranger out of the room, and mother and
daughter were alone.

"My child," said the mother, "go for a time downstairs to Donate. I
shall have to lie, and I would not that your ears should hear me."

"Mother," returned the girl, "I pray you to let me remain with you. I
should die of terror down there. Never believe that anything you do can
seem wrong in my eyes; and you are doing it to save a human life."

Meanwhile there were three knocks at the bolted door. "In the name of
the law, open," a deep voice called out.

"Who knocks at this late hour?" returned Frau Amthor, and her voice
sounded as unconstrained as though nothing had happened.

"The sergeant, with the train band," was the reply. "Open, or we burst
the door."

"Go, Lisabethli," said the lady in so loud a tone that every word was
audible without. "I must say that customs are changing in our old town
of Berne: the idea of the watch breaking into a peaceable private
dwelling in the dark night-time! I hope you have some satisfactory
explanation to give of this visit of yours, sergeant," this in a
majestic tone to the intruder, "you know who I am, and that my house is
not likely to contain any disreputable character whom the bailiffs are
after."

The sergeant who had cast a hasty glance all round the room, now stood
confounded opposite the lofty figure of the matron, and his eyes fell
before the steady gaze of hers. "Forgive me, Frau Amthor," he mumbled,
while he beckoned to his followers to stay where they were, and kept
awkwardly turning the handle of his dagger round and round. "We are on
the track of a dangerous fellow who has taken part in riotous,
murderous doings on the island yonder. When I and my men were
approaching the tavern the people in it saw him flying in this
direction, leaping over hedges and walls, and we traced his foot-marks
to your garden, and even found one of his gloves below the window.
Therefore I held it to be my duty--"

"To break into my house as though it were a likely refuge for
murderers," interposed the matron, looking at him with so undaunted a
gaze that the bearded man stared down at the carpet much embarrassed by