hould be in which sweetness is mockery. Hitherto they had controlled
their feelings, or rather she had controlled him; but it was no use
any longer, for the time had come, and they abandoned themselves to
the terrible voluptuousness of unrestrained grief, in which there is a
strange meaningless suggestion of power, as though it might possibly
be a force that could affect or remove its own cause if but wild and
strong enough.

"Herr Randall, the carriage waits and you will lose the train," said
Frau Werner from the door, in a husky voice.

"I will not go, by God!" he swore, as he felt her clasp convulsively
strengthen at the summons. The lesser must yield to the greater, and
no loss or gain on earth was worth the grief upon her face. His father
might disinherit him; America might sink, but she must smile again.
And she did--brave, true girl and lover. The devotion his resolute
words proved was like a strong nervine to restore her self-control.
She smiled as well as her trembling lips would let her, and said, as
she loosed him from her arms:

"No, thou must go, Karl. But thou wilt return, _nicht wahr_?"

I would not venture to say how many times he rushed to the door, and
glancing back at her as she stood there desolate, followed his glance
once more to her side. Finally, Frau Werner led him as one dazed to
the carriage, and the impatient driver drove off at full speed.

* * * * *

It is seven years later, and Randall is pacing the deck of an ocean
steamer, outward bound from New York. It is the evening of the first
day out. Here and there passengers are leaning over the bulwarks
pensively regarding the sinking sun as it sets for the first time
between them and their native land, or may be taking in with awed
faces the wonder of the deep, which has haunted their imaginations
from childhood. Others are already busily striking up acquaintances
with fellow-passengers, and a bridal pair over yonder sit thrilling
with the sense of isolation from the world that so emphasizes their
mutual dependence and all-importance to each other. And other groups
are talking business and referring to money and markets in New York,
London, and Frankfort as glibly as if they were on land, much
to the secret shock of certain raw tourists, who marvel at the
insensitiveness of men who, thus speeding between two worlds, and
freshly in the presence of the most august and awful form of nature,
can keep their mind