h goes through the ear to the heart, and carries
me away with it; on the contrary, if it is to be admired by the
understanding, it is foreign to me."

"Yes, that is your false estimation of the subject, dear friend!" said
Wilhelm: "in aesthetics you come at once to the pure and true; but in
music you are far away in the outer court, where the crowd is dancing,
with cymbals and trumpets, around the musical golden calf!"

And now the aesthetic unity brought them into a musical disunity. On
such occasions, Otto was not one to be driven back from his position; he
very well knew how to bear down his assailant by striking and original
observations: but Otto, this evening, although he was animated
enough--excited, one might almost say--did not exhibit the calmness, the
decision in his thoughts and words, which otherwise would have given him
the victory.

It was a long hour, and one yet longer and more full of anxiety, which
commenced with supper. The conversation turned to the events of the day.
Otto mingled in it, and endeavored therefrom to derive advantage; it was
a martyrdom of the soul. Sophie praised highly his discovery.

"If Mr. Thostrup had not been here," said she, "then we should hardly
have discovered the thief. We must thank Mr. Thostrup for it, and really
for a merry, amusing spectacle."

They joked about it alai laughed, and Otto was obliged to laugh also.

"And now she sits up there, like a captive, in the roof!" said he; "it
must be an uncomfortable night to her!"

"Oh, she sleeps, perhaps, better than some of us others!" said Wilhelm:
"that will not annoy her!"

"She is confined in the gable chamber, out in the court, is she not?"
inquired Otto: "there she has not any moonlight."

"Yes, surely she has!" answered Sophie; "it is in the gable to the
right, hooking toward the wood, that she is confined. We have placed her
as near to the moon as we could. The gable on the uppermost floor is our
keep."

"But is it securely locked?" inquired Otto.

"There is a padlock and a great bar outside the door; those she cannot
force, and no one about the place will do such a piece of service for
her. They dislike her, every one of them."

They rose up from the table; the bell was just on the stroke of eleven.

"But the Baron must play us a little piece!" said the physician.

"Then Mr. Thostrup will sing us the pretty Jutlandish song by
Steen-Blicher!" exclaimed Louise.

"O yes!" said the mother, and clapped