re also introduced. Roland and the maiden gazed at
each other as if they were in a dream.

"Father, this is the Forest-prince whom I saw," said the maiden to the
handsome, strongly-built man.

Her voice made Roland look round; so would the lilies of the valley
have rung out their soft tones, if their little bells could have
emitted any sound.

The adventure in the wood was now gaily narrated, and Knopf was
especially delighted.

"Miracles still take place! Miracles still take place!" he kept
exclaiming, flourishing at the same time his flute. "But now, children,
follow me; do not speak--not a single word. Roland can dance, and you
can dance too, Lilian. I beg you would be quiet!" he cried aloud to the
assembly. "Our children are going to dance--our children are going to
dance by themselves."

He stationed himself again on the platform, and played a waltz on his
flute; the children danced, and all eyes were fixed upon them, as if it
were a fairy spectacle.

Roland and Lilian had not yet spoken a word, and they had so much to
say to each other; but they were dancing together. Who knows how long
Knopf would have kept on playing, had not Dr. Fritz called out:--

"That'll do for the present, Herr Candidate!" Knopf flinched; the word
candidate, in the midst of this fairy tale, seemed to annoy him, it
sounded so horribly prosaic.

Roland and Lilian took their seat with the others at the table. Knopf
exhorted Lilian to give her partner something to drink, but Frau
Weidmann insisted upon the children's waiting awhile before they drank.
They sat quietly, looking at each other without speaking.

Eric begged that his coming should make no interruption in their plans,
but Weidmann declared that he wanted to leave, at any rate; he had
already been obliged to answer hundreds of questions. Frau Weidmann
regretted that the best rooms in the house were already occupied, and
that Eric and Roland would have to put up with such poor
accommodations.

"Don't be uneasy," interposed Weidmann; "all women, even the best, make
apologies for their housekeeping, however good it may be."

The whole company adjourned from the table to the courtyard. Dr. Fritz
leading his little daughter by the hand; and now it was learned that he
and his child were going to start the next day for America.

Knopf took Roland's arm, and Eric walked between Weidmann and his wife;
the Russian had gone out into the fields with a son of Weidmann, while
the s