ing was worn and faded with age. The delicate
fingers turned leaf after leaf; then she glanced over a page, and after
a pause said:

"Actually, Anna Maria, Felix Leonhard has fallen from the wall on his
birthday; how singular! Now people call that chance, but how strange it
is! I have always remembered the day hitherto, until to-day, and have
been going about all the time with a feeling as if I had forgotten
something, I could not exactly think what And then he announced himself.
_Mon pauvre_ Felix! You shall have your flowers to-day, as every year."
And she caressingly touched the picture before her on the table. Then
she looked over to Anna Maria almost shyly, for she knew that her niece
sometimes smiled scornfully at signs and forebodings.

But to-day the deep line about Anna Maria's mouth was not to be seen;
she looked thoughtfully at the picture, and asked: "Who was Felix
Leonhard, aunt?"

"An early friend of my brother's," replied the old lady.

"Is he the one, aunt--I think you told me a strange story once about
some one shooting himself for the sake of a girl?"

"Yes, yes, quite right, my child. This gay, handsome man once took a
pistol and shot himself for the sake of a girl; quite right, Anna
Maria. And he was no youth then, he was well on in the thirties, and yet
did this horrible deed, unworthy of a peaceable man. Oh, it was a misery
not to be described, Anna Maria!" She shook her head and passed her
hands over her eyes, as if to frighten away a horrible picture.

"Why did he do it, aunt?" asked Anna Maria, in an unusually warm tone;
"was she faithless to him, or----"

"She did not love him, _ma petite_; she had been persuaded by her
parents and brothers and sisters to become engaged to him. He was in
most excellent circumstances, and one of the best men I ever knew. He
became acquainted with her at a ball in Berlin, and fell violently in
love with her, although before that no one had ever considered his a
passionate nature. She was not young at the time, not even particularly
pretty, and with the exception of a pair of melancholy great eyes did
not possess a charm. _Eh bien_, after endless doubts and struggles, she
accepted his suit. The engagement lasted a whole year, and she was as
shy and discreet a _fiancee_ as could be found; he, on the other hand,
was full of touching attentions to her; indeed, to use a worn-out
figure, he carried her about in his hands. The nearer the wedding-day
approached,