e, she felt, must shrink before this great
sorrow. The idea sustained her hopes. She could not expect him to seek
her again until the first bitterness of grief for the loss of this
beloved relative had passed away. She could wait, and she succeeded in
doing so patiently.

But week after week went by and there was no change in his conduct. Then
a great anxiety overpowered her, and this did not escape his notice;
for one day, while his young wife hung on his arm and added a few
brief words of sympathy, he asked Kuni if she was ill or if she needed
anything; but she answered curtly in the negative and hurried into the
garden, where the children, with merry shouts, were helping the gardener
to free the beds of crocuses and budding tulips from the pine boughs
which had protected them from the frosts of winter.

Another sleepless night followed this incident. It was useless to
deceive herself. She might as well mistake black for white as to believe
that Lienhard cared for her. To no one save his fair young wife would
he grant even the smallest ray of the love of which he was doubtless
capable, and in which she beheld the sun that dispensed life and light.
She had learned this, for he had often met her in Frau Sophia's house
since his father's funeral. The child of the highway had never been
taught to conceal her feelings and maintain timid reserve. Her eyes had
told him eloquently enough, first her deep sympathy, and afterward the
emotions which so passionately stirred her heart. Had the feelings
which her glances were intended to reveal passed merely for the ardent
gratitude of an impassioned soul?

Gratitude! For what?

His lukewarm interest had tempted her from a free, gay life, full of
constant excitement, into the oppressive, wearisome monotony of this
quiet house, where she was dying of ennui. How narrow, how petty, how
tiresome everything seemed, and what she had bartered for it was the
world, the whole wide, wide world. As the chicken lured the fox, the
hope of satisfying the fervent longing of her heart, though even once
and for a few brief moments, had brought her into the snare. But the
fire which burned within had not been extinguished. An icy wind had
fanned the flames till they blazed higher and higher, threatening her
destruction.

Frau Schurstab had made her attend church and go to the confessional.
But the mass, whose meaning she did not understand, offered no solace to
the soul which yearned for love a