entleman's knees, she added, "May I take the books away?
They might be too heavy."

"Yes, you might, but it was very good of Maezli to bring them all the way
up to me," he said. "I'll look at them a little later."

"May I fix your pillow for you? It does not do you much good that way,"
said Leonore, pulling it up. It had long ago slipped out of position.

"Oh, this is better, this is lovely," the sick man replied, comfortably
leaning back in the chair.

"What a shame! It won't stay, I am afraid. It is falling down again,"
said Leonore regretfully. "We ought to have a ribbon. If I only had one
and a thread and needle!--but perhaps we could come again to-morrow--"

Leonore became quite frightened suddenly at her boldness and remained
silent from embarrassment. But Maezli got her out of this trying
situation. Full of confidence she announced that they would return the
next day with everything necessary.

The gentleman now asked Leonore where she came from and where she lived.
She related that she had been living in a boarding school for several
years, ever since the death of her great-aunt, with whom both she and her
brother had found a home.

"Have you no other relations?" the gentleman asked, keenly observing her
the while.

"No, none at all, except an uncle who has been living in Spain for many
years. My aunt told us that he won't ever come back and that no one
knows where he is. If we knew where he is, we should have written to him
long ago. Salo would go to Spain as soon as he was allowed to and I
should go to him in any case."

"Why?" the gentleman asked.

"Because he is our father's brother," she replied, "and we could love him
like a father, too. He is the only person in the whole world to whom we
could belong. We have wished many and many a time a chance to look for
him, because we might live with him."

"No, you couldn't do that. I know him, I have been in Spain," the
Castle-Steward said curtly.

A light spread over Leonore's face, as if her heart had been suddenly
flooded with hope.

"Oh, do you really know our uncle? Do you know where he is living?" she
cried out, while her cheeks flushed with happiness. "Oh, please tell me
what you know about him."

When she gazed up at the gentleman with such sparkling eyes, it seemed to
him that he ought to consider his reply carefully.

Suddenly he said positively, "No, no, you can never seek him out. Your
uncle is an old, sick man, and no young people co