n iota of
what she gave the Netherlanders. She felt proud and grateful that she
belonged to the chosen few who are permitted to express, by means of a
noble art, the loftiest and deepest feelings in the human breast. Had
not Appenzelder been compelled to interrupt the rehearsal, she would
gladly have sung on and on to exhaustion.

She did not yet suspect what awaited her when, in well-chosen yet
cordial words, Gombert expressed his appreciation.

She neither saw nor heard the fellow-singers who surrounded her; nay,
when Dr. Hiltner, the syndic's, daughter, seventeen years old, who had
long looked up to her with girlish enthusiasm, pressed forward to her
side, and her charming mother, sincerely pleased, followed more quietly,
when others imitated their example and expressed genuine gratification
or made pretty speeches, Barbara scarcely distinguished the one from the
other, honest good will from bitter envy.

She did not fully recover her composure until Appenzelder came up to her
and held out his large hand.

Clasping it with a smile, she permitted the old musician to hold her
little right hand, while in a low tone, pointing to Wolf, who had
followed him, he said firmly:

"May I believe the knight? Would you be induced to bestow your
magnificent art upon an ardent old admirer like myself, though to-day
only as leader of the voices in the boy choir--"

Here Wolf, who had noticed an expression of refusal upon Barbara's lips,
interrupted him by completing the sentence with the words, addressed
to her, "In order to let his Majesty the Emperor enjoy what delights us
here?"

The blood receded from Barbara's cheeks, and, as she clung to the
window-sill for support, it seemed as though some magic spell had
conveyed her to the summit of the highest steeple. Below her yawned the
dizzy gulf of space, and the air was filled with a rain of sceptres,
crowns, and golden chains of honour falling upon ermine and purple robes
on the ground below.

But after a few seconds this illusion vanished, and, ere Wolf could
spring to the assistance of the pallid girl, she was already passing her
kerchief across her brow.

Then, drawing a long breath, she gave the companion of her childhood a
grateful glance, and said to Appenzelder:

"Dispose of my powers as you deem best," adding, after a brief pause,
"Of course, with my father's consent."

Appenzelder, as if rescued, shook her hand again, this time with so
strong a pressure that i