nd she has no ears
for you!"

"This is a plot--a shameful plot!" cried Frau von Werrig, stamping her
feet. "That good-for-nothing creature, Trude, is in it. She has locked
the doors, and the schoolmaster paid her for it."

Trude shook her fist at her mistress behind the door. "Wait! that
good-for-nothing creature will punish you! You shall have something to
be angry about with me every day."

"I swear to you that I do not know who locked the doors," replied
Moritz, calmly. "But whoever did it, I thank them from the depths of my
soul, for it forces you to listen to me, and may love give my words the
power to soften your heart. General and Frau von Werrig, I conjure you
to have compassion upon us. Is it possible that you are deaf to the cry
of grief of your own child?"

Suddenly assuming a contemptuous calm, Frau von Werrig sank back upon
the divan with great dignity. "As I am obliged to listen to you, through
a shameful deception, let it be so. Try to make ears in my heart, which
you say is deaf. Let me listen to your wonderful eloquence!"

"Oh, Philip!" said Marie, clasping his arms, "you see it will all be in
vain."

"Let me hope to succeed in awakening a spark of loving mercy, as Moses
caused the fountain to gush from the rock.--A year since you turned me
insultingly from your door, Frau von Werrig, and you forbade me with
scorn and contempt to ever cross your threshold. In the rebellious pride
of my heart I swore never to do it again, never to speak to those who
had so injured me. The holy, pure love which binds me to this dear girl
has released me from my oath. We have tried to live separated from each
other a long year, an inconsolable, unhappy year! We hoped to renounce
each other, although we could not forget. Marie, as an obedient
daughter, obeyed your commands, and returned the ring, which I gave her
in a moment of affection and holy trust. I released her from the oath of
constancy, and made her free! But it is in vain! During this year I have
striven with sorrow as a man, helpless in a desert, who writhes in the
folds of the poisonous serpent. I should have gone mad if a consoling
word from a great and noble mind had not roused me from my desolation,
and if love had not shed a ray of light into my benighted soul. I
listened no longer to sickening pride and humbled sense of honor. Love
commanded me to come here, and I came to ask you, Marie, in the presence
of your parents, if you will be my wife; if you