thee, dearest
Clara, without any care for the future."

Things, however, did not quite fall out as expected. On the afternoon of
that very same day, a carriage was heard to drive up to the little
house. They heard the rattling of the wheels, the stopping of the
vehicle, the descent of the passengers. It was in vain to put their
heads out of window, they could see nothing there. But they heard the
sound of unpacking, then the greeting of neighbours--it was evident,
beyond a doubt, that their dreaded landlord had returned home much
sooner than he ought. The heavy tread of the gouty gentleman now
resounded in the passage--the crisis was at hand. Henry stood at the
half-open door, listening. Clara sat within, regarding him with a
questioning look.

"I must go up," the landlord was now heard to say; "I must go up, and
see after my lodgers. I hope they are as cheerful as ever, and the young
wife as pretty."

There was a pause. The old man was groping about in the dark.

"How is this?" he muttered to himself. "Don't know my own house! Not
here--not there! Ulric! Ulric! help here!"

Ulric, his servant and factotum, came to his assistance.

"Help me up these stairs," said the landlord. "I am blinded--bewitched!
I cannot find the steps, and yet they were broad enough!"

"Herr Emmerich," said the old and somewhat surly domestic, "you are a
little giddy from travelling."

"An hypothesis," whispered Henry, turning to his wife, "which unhappily
will not hold."

"Zounds!" cried Ulric, who had run his head against the wall, "I have
lost my wits too!"

"I am groping right and left," said the landlord, "and all round, and up
above. I think the devil has taken the stairs!"

"Another hypothesis," whispered Henry, "and a very bold one."

Meanwhile the more sensible domestic had at once run for a light. This
he now returned with, and, holding it up in his sturdy fist, he
illuminated the quite empty space.

"Ten thousand devils!" exclaimed the landlord, as he gazed around and
above him with astonishment. "This is the strangest business! Herr
Brand! Herr Brand! Is any one up there?"

It was of no use to deny himself. Henry stepped out, bent over the
landing, and saw, by the uncertain flicker of the light, the portly form
of his landlord.

"Ah, my worthy friend, Herr Emmerich!" he called out in the blandest
manner imaginable, "you are most welcome. It speaks well for the gout
that you have returned so much earlier than your