e Grime Thor, Dumiger, with a
fortune buried, as the old romances have it?"

"Yes, I shall soon discover a fortune," exclaimed the boy, now fairly
excited, and his cheeks glowing with animation; "and more than a
fortune. Fame and honors shall be heaped upon us. Do you imagine that
I have been wasting the last three years of my life? do you believe
that the ambition which was the subject of your illusive aim at
college is dead? No! look here, Carl and Krantz, this day week will
see me famous, and ennoble my family till it vies even with the Grand
Master's."

"You are mad," said Carl.

"No, I am speaking words of soberness," said he, with an earnestness
which carried conviction even to those wild spirits. "I tell you that
I have an inward confidence that I shall win this prize which was
proclaimed to-day, that my name will be associated with the proudest
fame ever reared in Dantzic. Oh, the nights and days of toil, the
hopes and fears which have agitated me, for the last three years:
these will account to you for the paleness of my cheek, and my vacant
look. Well, I have this day completed the test by which the accuracy
of my work is proved, and now I hold I shall be great."

He spoke so loud that his voice echoed through the peristyle; it
disturbed one not the least interested in the conversation, Frederick
Asprecht. He lent an attentive ear to all that fell from the speaker's
lips, and then he learned that not only had he been robbed of an
affection which he had striven to win, but that the same man who
had married Marguerite was about to take from him the possibility of
obtaining a prize he sought for. In the vanity of his pretensions
he could not believe it possible that Dumiger really was not at
the moment speaking extravagantly; it was not until he listened
attentively, and heard him give a detailed account of the nature
of his mechanism, that he saw (for he was not wanting in scientific
knowledge) that Dumiger's confidence was far from misplaced.
Frederick, when he had heard sufficient, left the place with a heavy
heart, and with melancholy step retired to his chambers of luxury.

He entered the Grand Master's palace, and through the vast marble
hall, where the banners hung against the walls, and devices and
armorial bearings testified to the antiquity and gallantry of his
race. The lofty roof, supported by vast ashen beams, echoed to each
step as it rang on the pavement. Sculpture and painting decorated
the