. He
suspected a trap: was she making fun of him, or did she wish to do him
harm? It had never occurred to him that one might voluntarily assist him
when in distress.

Suddenly he became ashamed of himself; he lifted his eyes and smiled
like a simpleton; he cast a glance of almost dog-like tenderness at
Eleanore. And then, without saying a word, without even saying good-bye
to her, he hastened across the street to hide as soon as he might in
some obscure corner.

V

One afternoon in the last week of August, the Ruediger sisters sent the
boy who attended to their garden over to Eleanore with the urgent
request that she call as soon as she possibly could. Feeling that some
misfortune had befallen Daniel and that the sisters wished to tell her
about it, Eleanore was not slow about making up her mind: exactly one
quarter of an hour later she entered the Ruedigers' front door.

A lamentable sight greeted her. Each of the three sisters was sitting in
a high-backed chair, her arms hanging lifeless from her sides. The
curtains were drawn; in the shaded light their faces looked like
mummies. Nor was the general impression measurably brightened by the
"Medea," the "Iphigenie," and the "Roman Woman" that hung on the wall,
copies of the paintings of their idol.

Eleanore's greeting was not returned. She did not dare leave without
finding what was the matter, and the silence with which she was received
was broken only when she herself decided to ask some questions.

Fraeulein Jasmina took out her handkerchief and dried her eyes. Fraeulein
Saloma looked around somewhat like a judge at a session of court. And
then she began to speak: "We three lonely women, forgotten by the world,
have asked you to come to our house so that we might tell you of a crime
that has been committed in our innocent home. We never heard of it until
this morning. It is such an unexampled, gruesome, abominable deed that
we have been sitting here ever since it was brought to our attention,
wringing our hands in vain attempt to make up our minds as to what
course we should pursue."

Fraeulein Jasmina and Fraeulein Albertina nodded their heads in sadness
and without looking up.

"Can we put the unfortunate girl out of the house?" continued Fraeulein
Saloma, "can we, sisters? No! Can we afford to keep her? No! What are we
to do then? She is an orphan; she is all alone, abandoned by her
infamous seducer, and exposed to