y
some one whom he was trying to keep away; the door was thrust open,
and a young man threw himself impetuously at her feet, seized her hand
in her fright and covered it with kisses, while a hot flood of tears
gusht from his eyes. It was not till after a while that the mother
recognized the son whom she had deemed lost. Her strong emotions
overcame her: she askt: "Whence comest thou?... stand up ... my
unhappy child come to my arms...." More she could not say.

"You do not cast me off, you do not abhor me?" cried the youth in a
trance of grief: "Oh God! have I deserved that a single spark of love
for me should yet linger in this noble heart! Am I worthy of a single
look from her!"

They continued long closely embraced, and quite unable to speak. "But
mother," the young man said at length, "can you hold the monster in
your arms, to your heart, who, when he last saw you--"

"No, my son, my beloved son, do not call back that horrible moment,
which we must forget;" so the mother stammered out. "I too know now
that I did you injustice then; the girl you loved is worthy of your
love, as has been proved since. I myself had not taught you
sufficiently to controul your passions. Let that hour vanish for ever
like a painful dream from our lives. But whence comest thou? where
hast thou been living all this time?"

They sat down; they both tried to regain their self-possession and
calmness in this sudden change from sorrow to joy. The young man
related--while from time to time he again embraced his beloved mother,
or kist her hands--how after that fearful moment he had roamed about
in despair without any plan or view; how, when he was destitute of all
means of subsistence, finding himself near the mountains, he had made
up his mind to apply to Herr Balthasar, in the chance of obtaining
support from him. Hearing however of his singular peculiarities, and
how difficult it was to gain admittance to him, he had altered his
plan, formed an acquaintance with his overseer, Edward, under the
assumed name of William Lorenz, and been taken into the house as
secretary. To see his beloved, who was travelling in the
neighbourhood, he had left his post, returned, and again gone away on
being alarmed by hearing that his mother was coming to visit her
kinsman.

"This very day," he concluded, "I met a traveller, a Hungarian, who
was come in haste from the mountains, and who told me a very important
piece of news. I was on my way hither to th