econd sister was, and where
he met an old acquaintance. The bath master was the former Landlord of
the "Golden Lion," who, after the death of his wife, had retired to
this place. He had the same benevolent air, and patronised every one
whom he met. The trials he had endured seemed to have passed very
lightly over him, for he was remarkably cheerful and communicative. He
commissioned Faller to inform the whole village, and the whole country,
that he had been comparatively innocent. He told him that his wife had
misled him, and then affected the most entire ignorance and
unconsciousness; and, even if he had been far more guilty than he
really was, he had done ample penance for his sins in one solitary
hour. He proceeded to detail to Faller, how his wife had denounced and
exposed him on the very morning of his ruin, while, in fact, she was
the one chiefly to blame. It seemed a relief to him to abuse Brazil,
where, he said, no justice was to be found, or he would now, from his
speculations in that country, have been a rich man. He then praised the
Spa, and the good milk, which performed miracles; and if there were
only gaming tables established here, it would be the most fashionable
Spa in the whole country.

Faller came home again; but in the early spring, just as the snow was
again melting, he died.

Shortly after his death, Petrowitsch was also buried. He had often
conquered death; for since autumn his violent cough had become so much
worse, that he constantly expected to choke; and in fact one of those
attacks carried him off at last, quite suddenly.

Just as the Doctor had prophesied, so it was. Petrowitsch possessed
nothing but an annuity, which he had secured by sacrificing the remains
of his capital, for the greater proportion of it had been swallowed by
the gaming tables at Baden-Baden.

Many discrepancies and contradictions in Petrowitsch's conduct, were
thus explained. Above all, the Doctor maintained that the old man had
been angry with the world, because he was angry with himself.

Lenz took one of Faller's sons to live with him, the little girl was
left with her mother, and Kathrine, the farmer's wife, adopted the
twins--she, indeed, only wished to take one, but the children refused
to be separated.

Franzl was proud and thankful to be able to tell her old, kind friend
Kathrine, the present state of the Morgenhalde. "I do not know," said
she, "which Annele spoils the most--her husband or myself. The ang