a very short time work poured in upon Otto. During that long and
terrible war the manufacture of cannon alone made the fortunes of
the workers in iron. So five years from the time he left Von
Erlangen we find Otto Holstein a rich man at twenty-four years of
age. But the idea for which he labored had never for a moment left
his mind. Sleeping or waking, toiling or resting, his thoughts were
busy perfecting the details of the great work.

"Thou art twenty-four to-day, Otto," said his good mother, "and
rich beyond our hopes. When wilt thou bring Gertrude home to me?
Thou hast been betrothed now for three years, and I want a daughter
to comfort my declining years. Thou doest thy betrothed maiden a
grievous wrong to delay without cause. The gossips are talking
already."

"Let them talk," laughed Otto. "Little do Gertrude or I care for
their silly tongues. She and I have agreed that the 'Harmony Chime'
is to usher in our marriage-day. Why, good mother, no man can serve
two mistresses, and my chime has the oldest claim. Let me accomplish
it, and then the remainder of my life belongs to Gertrude, and thou,
too, best of mothers."

"Still that dream! still that dream!" sighed his mother. "Thou hast
cast bell after bell, and until to-day I have heard nothing more of
the wild idea."

"No, because I needed money. I needed time, and thought, too, to
make experiments. All is matured now. I have received an order to
make a new set of bells for the great cathedral that was sacked last
week by the 'Iconoclasts,' and I begin to-morrow."

[Illustration: BELL-TOWER, GHENT.]

As Otto had said, his life's work began the next day. He loved his
mother, but he seemed now to forget her in the feverish eagerness
with which he threw himself into his labors. He had been a devoted
lover to Gertrude, but he now never had a spare moment to give to
her,--in fact, he only seemed to remember her existence in
connection with the peal which would ring in their wedding-day. His
labors were prolonged far over the appointed time, and meanwhile the
internal war raged more furiously, and the Netherlands were one vast
battle-field. No interest did Otto seem to take in the stirring
events around him. The bells held his whole existence captive.

[Illustration: BELL TOWER OF HEIDELBERG.]

At last the moulds were broken, and the bells came out of their
husks perfect in form, a