The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Northern Light, by E. Werner, Translated
by Mrs. D. M. Lowrey

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Title: The Northern Light

Author: E. Werner

Release Date: June 20, 2005 [eBook #16095]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NORTHERN LIGHT***

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THE NORTHERN LIGHT

From the German of E. WERNER

Author of "At a High Price," "His Word of Honor," etc.

Translated by MRS. D. M. LOWREY

1891

CHAPTER I.

The grey mist of an autumn morning lay upon forest and field. Through
its shadowy vapors a swarm of birds were sweeping by, on their Southward
way, now dipping low over the tops of the tall fir forest, as if giving
a last greeting to their summer homes, and then rising high in the air;
turning their flight due South, they disappeared slowly through the fog.

At the window of a large manor-house, which lay at the edge of the
forest, two men stood, watching the course of the birds and conversing
earnestly with each other. One was a tall, stalwart figure, whose firm
and erect bearing betokened the soldier fully as much as the uniform he
wore. He was blonde and blue-eyed, not handsome, but with a strong and
speaking countenance; a typical German in form and feature. Yet
something like a shadow lay upon the man's face, and there were,
wrinkles, on his brow which surely were not the result of age, for he
was yet in the prime of life.

"The birds have started already on their journey to the south," said he,
after watching the flight attentively until they had finally disappeared
in the cloud of mist. "The autumn has come to nature and to our lives as
well."

"Not to yours yet," objected his companion. "You are just in the hey-day
of life, in the full strength of your manhood."

"True enough, as to years, but I have a feeling that age will overtake
me sooner than others. I often feel as if it were autumn with me now."

The other man, who might have been a few years the speaker's senior, was
slender, and of middle