ill?" he asked.

"Always," Will assured him complacently, as he helped himself to a
large slice of bread and butter.

"No, we don't suffer thank God, with indigestion or any other stomach
trouble," said the mistress of the house tartly, "but we earn our bread
honestly here. First pray and work, then eat and drink, but what we do,
we do thoroughly, and that keeps body and soul together. Just look at
Will, now, and you will see that what I say is true." She gave her
brother a friendly slap on the shoulder with her last words, but this
token of her good will was so energetic that Wallmoden shrank back in
his chair, and immediately moved it sidewise to be out of the reach of
that muscular hand.

The expression of his face showed clearly that the "creepy sensation"
was coming over him again. In the presence of these patriarchial
conditions, he thought it best to forego any attempt to enforce his
prerogative as guardian, an office, moreover, which, so far as he was
concerned, had always been purely nominal. It was plain from Will's
manner that his mother's praise was highly gratifying to the young man's
feelings.

"And Hartmut is not here for breakfast again, this morning. He seems to
think there is no necessity for being punctual at Burgsdorf, but I will
enlighten the young gentleman when he comes and make it clear to him
that--"

"There he is now," exclaimed Willibald. On the clear sunshine which
flooded the room through the open windows, there fell a shadow, and a
tall, slender figure appeared suddenly at the window and vaulted upon
the high sill.

"Well, what kind of an imp are you anyway, that you can only come in
through the window?" said Frau von Eschenhagen indignantly. "What are
the doors for?"

"For Will and all other well-ordered human beings," laughed the
new-comer good-naturedly. "I always take the nearest way, and that led
this time through the window." So saying he gave one spring from the
high seat into the middle of the room.

Hartmut Falkenried, like the young heir of Burgsdorf, stood upon the
boundary line where boyhood and manhood meet, but it needed only a
glance to recognize that he was his friend's superior in every respect.
He wore a cadet's uniform which became him well, but yet there was
something in his whole appearance which seemed to be at war with the
military cut and fit. The tall, slender boy was a true picture of youth
and beauty, yet there was something odd about this beauty, somet