ed to
Jonas, who immediately came to him. The girl was his sister, he said,
and was called Eva. Wilhelm nodded to her, and the friends went on.

"That was a beautiful girl!" said Wilhelm, and looked back once more. "A
rosebud that one could kiss until it became a full blown rose!"

"During the experiment the rosebud might easily be broken!" answered
Otto; "at least such is the case with the real flower. But do not look
back again, that is a sin!"

"Sin?" repeated Wilhelm; "no, then it is a very innocent sin! Believe
me, it flatters the little creature that we should admire her beauty.
I can well imagine how enchanting a loving look from a rich young
gentleman may be for a weak, feminine mind. The sweet words which one
can say are as poison which enters the blood. I have still a clear
conscience. Not ONE innocent soul have I poisoned!"

"And yet you are rich and young enough to do so," returned Otto, not
without bitterness. "Our friends precede us with a good example: here
come some of our own age; they are acquainted with the roses!"

"Good evening, thou good fellow!" was the greeting Wilhelm received from
three or four of the young men.

"Are you on Thou-terms with all these?" inquired Otto.

"Yes," answered Wilhelm; "we became so at a carouse. There all drank the
Thou-brotherhood. I could not draw myself back. At other times I do
not willingly give my 'thou' to any but my nearest friends. _Thou_ has
something to my mind affectionate and holy. Many people fling it to the
first person with whom they drink a glass. At the carouse I could not
say no."

"And wherefore not?" returned Otto; "that would never have troubled me."

The friends now wandered on, arm-in-arm. Later in the evening we again
meet with them together, and that at the house of a noble family, whose
name and rank are to be found in the "Danish Court Calendar;" on which
account it would be wanting in delicacy to mention the same, even in a
story the events of which lie so near our hearts.

Large companies are most wearisome. In these there are two kinds of
rank. Either you are riveted to a card-table, or placed against the
wall where you must stand with your hat in your hand, or, later in the
evening, with it at your feet, nay, even must stand during supper. But
this house was one of the most intellectual. Thou who dost recognize the
house wilt also recognize that it is not to be reckoned with those,--

"Where each day's gossiping