r hand she must kneel on a
table, which was to be draped so as to represent a balcony. The poor
girl felt quite unhappy at having to appear in this manner. Sophie
laughed at her fear, and assured her that she would be admired, and that
therefore she must and should.

"Give way to my sister," said Louise, in a beseeching voice; and Eva was
ready, let down her long brown hair, and allowed Sophie to arrange the
drapery.

Otto must put on an officer's uniform. He presented himself to the
sisters.

"That gold is not sewn fast on the collar," said Sophie, and undertook
to rectify it. He could easily keep the uniform on whilst she did this,
said she. Her soft hand touched Otto's cheek, it was like an electric
shock to him; his blood burned; how much he longed to press the hand to
his lips!

They all burst out laughing when the Kammerjunker appeared in a white
petticoat which only reached a little below the knee, and in a large
white lady's dressing-jacket. Miss Sophie must arrange his hair. She did
it charmingly; her hand stroked the hair away from his brow, and glided
over his cheeks: he kissed it; she struck him in the face, and begged
him not to forget himself! "We are ladies," said he, and rose in his
full splendor. They all laughed except Otto; he could not--he felt a
desire to beat him. The spectators arranged themselves in a dark room,
the folding doors were opened.

Eva as Hero, in a white linen robe, her hair hanging down on her
shoulders, and a torch in her hand, gazed out over the sea. No painter
could have imagined anything more beautiful; the large dark-blue eyes
expressed tenderness and melancholy; it was Eva's natural glance,
but here you saw her quiet. The fine black eyebrows increased the
expression, the whole figure was as if breathed into the picture.

Now followed a new picture--Faust and Margaret in the arbor; behind
stood Mephistophiles, with his devilish smile. The Kammerjunker's
Mamsell was Margaret. When the doors were opened she sent forth aloud
cry, and ran away; she would not stay, she was so afraid. The group was
disarranged, people laughed and found it amusing, but the Kammerjunker
scolded aloud, and swore that she should come in again; at that the
laughter of the spectators increased, and was not lessened when the
Kammerjunker, forgetting his costume as the Somnambule, half stepped
into the frame in which the pictures were represented, and seated the
Mamsell on the bench. This group was o