student, and hope to remain so all my life."

"Ah, you speak English," she said, quickly catching at the word; "that
is charming. I am tremendously fond of English, and am quite accustomed
to it, as I spent a great part of my time in England when I was very
young. I have been told that I have a slight English accent in speaking
German. Do you think so?"

"My ear is not expert enough for that," said Wilhelm apologetically.

"My friends," she chattered on, "nearly all speak French; but I think
English is much more uncommon. Fluent English in a German is always
proof of good education. Don't you think so?"

"Not always," said Wilhem frankly; "it might happen that one had worked
as a journeyman in America."

The girl turned up her nose a little at this rather unkind observation,
but Wilhelm went on:

"With your leave I would rather keep to our mother-tongue. To speak in
a foreign language with a fellow-country-woman without any necessity
would be like acting a charade, and a very uncomfortable thing."

"I think a charade is very amusing," she answered; "but just as you
like. Opportunities of speaking English are not far to seek. Most of
the visitors at the hotel are English. I dare say you have noticed it
already. But they are not the best sort. They are common city people,
who even drop their h's, but who play at being lords on the Continent.
Of course I have learned already to tell a 'gentleman' from a 'snob.'"

Wilhelm smiled at the self-conscious importance with which she spoke.
His eyes wandered over her beautiful hair, to the tender curve of her
slender neck and beautiful shoulders, while she, feeling perfectly
secure again, settled herself comfortably. Her seat was a projecting
piece of stone, which had been converted by a soft covering of moss
into a delightful resting-place. An overhanging bush shaded it
pleasantly. In front lay a corner of the castle; across a smooth piece
of turf and through a wide gap in the wall they caught a view of the
mountains, as if painted by some artist's brush--a perfect composition
which would have put the crowning touch to his fame. The girl had been
trying to make a sketch of the view in a well-worn sketchbook which lay
near.

"You have given a sufficient excuse for your sketches by your feeling
for natural beauty," remarked Wilhelm. "May I look at the page?"

"Oh," she said, somewhat confused, "my will is of the best, but I can
do so little," and she hesitatingly gave hi