the test, and what do
I find? Admiration for her--shame for myself; and also the certainty
that my views of women must be restricted."

He had scarcely written down these thoughts, when he bit impatiently
the pen between his teeth.

"We must not be hasty in our judgments," he wrote further. "Perhaps it
is my ignorance of the depth of the human heart that causes me to
consider in so favorable a light the occurrences in the Siegwart
family.

"Perhaps it is a kind of stupidity of mind, an unrefined feeling, a
frivolous perception of fatality, that gives these people this quiet
and resignation. My judgment shall not be made up. Angela may conceal
beneath the loveliness of her nature characteristics and failings which
may justify my opinion of the sex, notwithstanding."

With a peculiar stubbornness which struggles to maintain a favorite
conviction, he closed the diary.

On the second day after Eliza's death, the body was consigned to the
earth. Frank followed the diminutive coffin, which was carried by four
little girls dressed in white. The youthful bearers had wreaths of
flowers on their heads and blue silk ribbons about their waists, the
ends of which hung down.

After these followed a band of girls, also dressed in white and blue.
They had flowers fixed in their hair, and in their hands they carried a
large wreath of evergreens and roses. The whole community followed the
procession--a proof of the great respect the proprietor enjoyed among
his neighbors. Siegwart's manner was quiet, but his eyes were inflamed.
As the coffin was lowered into the ground, the larks sang in the air,
and the birds in the bushes around joined their sweet cadences with the
not plaintive but joyful melodies which were sung by a choir of little
girls. The church ceremonies, like nature, breathed joy and triumph,
much to Richard's astonishment. He did not understand how these songs
of gladness and festive costumes could be reconciled with the open
grave. He believed that the feelings of the mourners must be hurt by
all this. He remained with the family at the grave till the little
mound was smoothed and finished above it. The people scattered over the
graveyard, and knelt praying before the different graves. The cross was
planted on Eliza's resting-place, and the girls placed the large wreath
on the little mound. Siegwart spoke words of consolation to his wife as
he conducted her to the carriage. Angela, sunk in sadness, still
remained we