was trying to persuade myself I didn't care for what I
now know I care for more than for life itself--your love--Anne."

III

UNEXPLAINED

PART I

"For facts are stubborn things."--SMOLLETT.

"Silberbach! What in the name of everything that is eccentric should
you go there for? The most uninteresting, out-of-the-way, altogether
unattractive little hole in all Germany? What can have put Silberbach in
your head?"

"I really don't know," I answered, rather tired, to tell the truth, of
the discussion. "There doesn't seem any particular reason why anybody
ever should go to Silberbach, except that Goethe and the Duke of Weimar
are supposed to have gone there to dance with the peasant maidens. I
certainly don't see that that is any reason why _I_ should go there.
Still, on the other hand, I don't see that it is any reason why I should
_not_? I only want to find some thoroughly country place where the
children and I can do as we like for a fortnight or so. It is really
too hot to stay in a town, even a little town like this."

"Yes, that is true," said my friend. "It is a pity you took up your
quarters in the town. You might have taken a little villa outside, and
then you would not have needed to go away at all."

"I wanted a rest from housekeeping, and our queer old inn is very
comfortable," I said. "Besides, being here, would it not be a pity to
go away without seeing anything of the far-famed Thuringian Forest?"

"Yes, certainly it would. I quite agree with you about everything except
about Silberbach. _That_ is what I cannot get over. You have not enough
self-assertion, my dear. I am certain Silberbach is some freak of Herr
von Walden's--most unpractical man. Why, I really am not at all sure
that you will get anything to eat there."

"I am not afraid of _that_ part of it," I replied philosophically. "With
plenty of milk, fresh eggs, and bread and butter, we can always get on.
And those I suppose we are sure to find."

"Milk and eggs--yes, I suppose so. Butter is doubtful once you leave the
tourist track, and the bread will be the sour bread of the country."

"I don't mind that--nor do the children. But if the worst comes to the
worst we need not stay at Silberbach--we can always get away."

"That is certainly true; if one can get there, one can, I suppose,
always get away," answered Fraeulein Ottilia with a smile, "though I
confess it is a curious inducement to name for going _to_ a place--that
one