O Lord! But
I love that young girl as if she were my own child, and I would give
my heart's blood for her. Oh, my God! I implore Thee to let my Marie
be happy!" Then she continued, as she rose from her knees. "Now, I have
spoken, and I commit every thing to God, and He will do what is best.
She has been obliged to listen to him, and if it cannot be otherwise, he
must go."

Carefully old Trude unlocked both doors, and then stopped to listen.

Trude was right, there was no mercy in Frau von Werrig's heart. "Have
you finished? Have you any thing more to say?" she asked, in her most
unsympathizing manner.

"Nothing more with our lips, but our hearts still implore you."

"I do not understand this language, sir, and you have not succeeded in
giving me hearing, or ears to hear with. In this useless strife I will
say a last word, which I hope will be for life. You shall never be the
husband of my daughter! You can never be united."

Marie and Moritz sprang from their knees, laying their hands in each
other's, and looked what words could not have better expressed--"We are
inseparable, nothing can disunite us but death!"

"I desire you not to interrupt me," commanded Frau von Werrig; "I have
listened to you, and now you shall listen to me. I promise you to speak
with more brevity than you have. I will not trouble you with useless
phrases and tedious lamentations. I will speak to the point. Marie is
the daughter of General Werrig von Leuthen, whose name would become
extinct if the grace and favor of the king had not prevented it, by
permitting the husband whom we have chosen for our daughter to take our
name, and therewith become our son. You may think, in your arrogance of
commoner, and the pride you take in having won the love of the daughter
of General von Leuthen, that you could be this husband and son-in-law.
But two things fail you: first, the necessary fortune; and, secondly,
the king's consent, and that of her father. If you were rich, it might
be possible that we should be touched by the tender amorousness of our
daughter, and conquer our aversion to you for her sake. You are of low
birth, and take a subordinate position in society. It would be extremely
laughable for the schoolmaster Moritz to change suddenly into a Herr von
Werrig Leuthen. Our son-in-law must be a rich man, in order to be able
to give his new title consideration; and, fortunately, the wooer of
my daughter's hand possesses this qualification, and