ng, or of the beautiful weather,
or of the attentive and humble manner in which the unfortunate youth
addressed Franziska from time to time?

In the evening we drove back to Huferschingen. It was a still and
beautiful evening, with the silence of the twilight falling over the
lonely valleys and the miles upon miles of darkening pines. Charlie has
not much of a voice, but he made an effort to sing with Tita:

"The winds whistle cold and the stars glimmer red,
The sheep are in fold and the cattle in shed;"

and the fine old glee sounded fairly well as we drove through the
gathering gloom of the forest. But Tita sang, in her low, sweet fashion,
that Swedish bridal song that begins:

"Oh, welcome her so fair, with bright and flowing hair;
May Fate through life befriend her, love and smiles attend her;"

and though she sang quietly, just as if she were singing to herself, we
all listened with great attention, and with great gratitude too. When we
got out of Huferschingen, the stars were out over the dark stretches of
forest, and the windows of the quaint old inn were burning brightly.

"And have you enjoyed the amusement of the day?" says Miss Fahler,
rather shyly, to a certain young man who is emptying his creel of
fish. He drops the basket to turn round and look at her face and say
earnestly:

"I have never spent so delightful a day; but it wasn't the fishing."

Things were becoming serious.

And next morning Charlie got hold of Tita, and said to her, in rather a
shamefaced way:

"What am I to do about that fox? It was only a joke, you know; but if
Miss Fahler gets to hear of it, she'll think it was rather shabby."

It was always Miss Fahler now; a couple of days before it was Franziska.

"For my part," says Tita, "I can't understand why you did it. What
honour is there in shooting a fox?"

"But I wanted to give the skin to her."

It was "her" by this time.

"Well, I think the best thing you can do is to go and tell her all about
it; and also to go and apologise to Dr. Krumm."

Charlie started.

"I will go and tell her, certainly; but as for apologising to Krumm,
that is absurd!"

"As you please," says Tita.

By-and-by Franziska--or rather Miss Fahler--came out of the small garden
and round by the front of the house.

"O Miss Fahler," says Charlie, suddenly,--and with that she stops and
blushes slightly,--"I've got something to say to you. I am going to make
a confession. Don't