ner.

She thanked him, but declared her fixed determination to leave the
house.

They had never had a quarrel before.

But when the Major perceived how sorrowfully Fraeulein Milch repented
her obstinate determination, he scolded himself for being too meek and
yielding, and thanked the Fraeulein for preserving her dignity as he
ought to have done himself, but which he was so apt to lose sight of.

He proposed to Fraeulein Milch the plan of removing to the castle, where
there were fine rooms all in readiness, and where it must be very
pleasant to live; but Fraeulein Milch would hear nothing about living in
a knightly castle. She set forth to the Major the bother it would
entail: with the butcher, the baker, the grocer, the milkmaid, with all
the various trades and callings, did she persecute the Major, until he
was sore dismayed.

"We will say no more about it," he cried, "but pray don't let me forget
to ask Captain Dournay how the old knights used to live."

Upon Eric's arrival, this had been the Major's opening question, and
then, for the first time, he made known his own difficulty.

Eric did not regret it; for he hoped, that, in the spring, the Major
would remove to the green cottage, while his mother would live with
Manna at the Villa.

The Major laughed. "Did you ever hear," said he, "the story of the man
who was a suitor forty years? Courting-time is very fine, I tell you;
but even ten years is too long. And now away with you! There is
something for you to learn yet. But don't tell a soul about that stale
old suitor, will you? On your honor? He, too, was once young."

On the eve of his departure, when he and Manna were alone, Eric said,--

"Manna, we have no betrothal time. Our hearts are torn by sorrow and
separation, we must comfort one another."

"And might I know why you, too, forsake me?"

"I shall be much with you and my mother; but I must be alone also. Just
think, I have to become a new man, to change my scholarly vocation for
some other, I know not what; but whether I am near you, or not, whether
I hold your hand, and look into your eyes, or am far away, be sure that
you are the inmost life of my heart: I bear you about with me like a
blessed faith."

As Eric continued in this strain, a new and delightful understanding
was established between the two, and Manna embraced him, saying,--

"I will not shed a tear to-morrow when you leave; and I will follow you
in all your wanderings with trust