to
say that she was not altogether displeased with the view.

After the first question, how long it was since Eric had seen the
Rhine, and after he had informed them how everything had appeared under
a new aspect, and had affected him almost to intoxication, he said it
was very pleasant to see the young ladies wearing wreaths of fresh
flowers and leaves upon their heads. To this he added the remark, that
though it was natural and fitting for ladies to wear wreaths on their
heads, it was very comical when men, even on some rural excursion,
allowed the black cylinder hat to be ornamented with a wreath by some
fair hand.

Insignificant as was the observation, the tone in which Eric uttered it
gave peculiar pleasure, and the whole circle smiled in a friendly
manner; they at once felt that here was a person of original and
suggestive ideas.

Bella knew how to bring out a guest in conversation. "Did not the
Greeks and Romans, Captain," she asked, "wear badges of distinction
upon the head, while we, who plume ourselves so much about our hearts,
wear ours upon the breast?" Then she spoke of an ancient wreath of
victory she had seen at Rome, and asked Eric whether there were
different classes of wreaths. Without intending it Eric described the
various kinds of crowns given to victory, and it excited much merriment
when he spoke of the wreath made of grass, which a general received who
had relieved a besieged city.

The girls, who stood in groups at one side, made a pretence of calling
out to a handsome boy playing at the fountain below, and sprang down
the little hill with flying garments. On reaching the fountain, they
troubled themselves no further about the little boy they had called to,
but talked with one another about the stranger, and how interesting he
was.

"He is handsomer than the architect," said the apothecary's daughter.

"And he is even handsomer than Herr von Pranken," added Hildegard, the
school-director's daughter.

Lina enjoyed the enviable advantage of being able to relate that she
had met him yesterday at the island convent; her father had rightly
guessed that he was of French descent, for his father had belonged to
the immigrating Huguenots, as his name indicated. The apothecary's
daughter, who plumed herself highly upon her brother's being a
lieutenant, promised to obtain from him more definite information about
the captain.

In her free way, Lina proposed that they should weave a garland and
p