lf the night; he tried
to reflect on his position, and why, in addition to the wreck of his
fortune, there should also be the wreck of his happiness--it was,
indeed, horrible! He could not discover the cause, though he thought
over all that had occurred from his wedding day to the present
time:--"I cannot find it out," cried he; "if a voice from Heaven would
only tell me!"--but no voice came from Heaven, all was still and silent
in the house; the clocks alone continued to tick together. Lenz looked
long out at the window.

The night was calm; nothing stirred, but snow laden clouds were
hurrying along, high up in the sky.

Far off yonder on the hill, a light is burning at the blacksmith's
house; it burned the whole night the blacksmith died today.

"Why did he die instead of me? I would so gladly have died." Life and
death chased each other in wild confusion through Lenz's soul; the
living seemed to him no longer to live, nor the dead to die--the whole
of life is only one long calamity--no bird ever sung, no man ever
uplifted his voice in melody.

Lenz's forehead fell on the window sill, he started up in terror, and
to escape such horrible waking dreams, he sought repose and
forgetfulness in sleep.

Annele had been long asleep: he gazed intently at her. If he could only
read her dreams; if he could only succour her--her and himself too.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
A BEGGAR, AND MONEY SAVED.

We are in a country where no thaw comes for many months when once the
frost fairly sets in. The Morgenhalde is the only exception to this;
there the sun usually shone with such power, that there were drops from
the roof, while elsewhere heavy icicles were suspended motionless from
the houses. This winter, however, the sun in the sky seemed less benign
towards the Morgenhalde than in old times. There was no sign of any
thaw outside the house nor inside. It was not only colder than it had
ever been before--this was no doubt caused by the wood on the side of
the hill being cut down; the trunks were all lying about, only waiting
for the spring floods to be floated down into the valley--but those who
lived in the Morgenhalde seemed frozen also. Annele seemed no longer
able to wake up to life and activity; there seemed something congealed
within her, which a warm breath could scarcely have thawed, and that
warm breath never came. She who had lived so long with her parents at
home, no