e whirled away in a moment. The
wind shrieked and whistled, and deposited the writing on the bleak
hill.

"Annele, what have you done?" said Lenz with a groan.

"I am not superstitious like you; I am not so lost to common sense yet,
as to place any faith in the benefit of a spell."

"It is no superstition. My mother only meant, that so long as my wife
respected what came from her, it would bring us a blessing. But nothing
is sacred in your eyes."

"Certainly, neither you nor your mother are."

"Enough!--not another word," cried Lenz in a hoarse voice, dashing down
a chair. "Go with the boy out of the room. Not one word, or I shall go
out of my senses.--Hush! some one is coming."

Annele left the room with the child.

The Doctor came in.

"As I feared, so, alas, it is! Your uncle will do nothing--absolutely
nothing. He says that he tried to dissuade you from marrying, and takes
his ground on that point. I tried every persuasion, but all in vain. He
almost told me to leave the house."

"Is it possible?--and on my account too! The dreadful thing is, that
whoever is friendly to me, or wishes to do me good, is sure to come in
for a share of my misery. Forgive me, Herr Doctor--it was not my
fault."

"I know that well! how can you speak so? I have known many men in the
course of my life, but never yet such a man as your uncle. He opened
his heart to me, and he has the tender heart of your family, and I
thought I should be able to guide him with ease, and lead him to the
point I wished like a child; but, when it came to the grand climax,
money!"--the Doctor snapped his fingers;--"it was all up! no further
use talking! My belief is that he really has nothing of his own;
nothing but an annuity from some insurance office; but let us put him
aside altogether. I have talked to both my sons. If you don't wish to
enter the manufactory, you may have six or seven workpeople in your own
house here, as many as you can manage, and employ them for the benefit
of the manufactory."

"Do not speak so loud. My wife hears everything in the next room; and
just like you with my uncle, I unfortunately foresaw what she would
say. In my life I never saw her in such a state as she was, when I told
her about the manufactory. She won't hear of it."

"Think it over for a time. Won't you escort me a little way?"

"Pray excuse me, for I am so tired; I really can scarcely stand, for I
have not rested since four o'clock this morning; I am no