my daughter through the bolted
door. I spoke the kindest words to her, and promised her anything in
the world if she would only be sensible and let me talk to her; and,
truly, I must have succeeded in the end--the voice of Nature must
finally have awakened even in her young bosom--when suddenly the old
gentleman--my _quasi_ father-in-law--entered the room. Would you
believe it? this white-haired old man, instead of coming to my aid with
the wisdom of a grandfather, suddenly becomes as wild and unreasonable
as a youth, says the most incredible things to my very face, and while
I, out of respect for his gray hairs and lost in astonishment, am at a
loss what to answer, he takes me _sans facon_ by the arm and leads me
to the door, which he slams after me like a clap of thunder."

The energy with which he had related all this seemed suddenly to have
taken away his breath. He sprang up, threw open the window, and took a
few deep draughts of the cold winter air; then, burying his hands deep
in the pockets of his short coat, he walked slowly back to where Julie
was sitting.

"You must admit, my dear Fraeulein," he said, "that this brutal
reception was well calculated to silence the voice of Nature once more.
This old--but no! He is right; if I had been in his place, and my
son-in-law had taken twenty years to make up his mind to stammer out
his _peccavi_, I should probably have been even less ceremonious, and
have simply kicked the fellow down-stairs, even if I had done nothing
worse to him. But still, as you can easily imagine, this encounter
rather shattered me."

He threw himself into the chair again, sighed like a man in utter
desperation, and ran his hands through his hair.

"And how can I help or advise you, Herr Baron?" asked Julie, after a
pause. "It seems to me there is nothing left for you to do but to write
to Herr Schoepf and to your daughter, and tell them by letter what they
would neither of them listen to in their first excitement."

"Pardon, my dear Fraeulein, that wouldn't do much good. These two mad
beings would not treat my letters any better than they did their
author. And yet, you will understand that I cannot rest content when my
father-in-law and my daughter have turned me out-of-doors. I must atone
for my old crime so far as such a thing is possible at this late day.
For me, in my years and circumstances, to suddenly long for paternal
joys, to receive this girl into my bachelor's quarters, and to