The sunshine of yesterday was forgotten in the gloom of to-day. The
fresh green leaves, torn by the rising storm from the tall, waving
branches, fell in a swirl at the feet of the tall, dark man, who, with
folded arms, leaned against an old tree, utterly oblivious to the
tempest which was gathering about him.

Hartmut's face was deadly pale, and on it there lay a strange, unearthly
quiet; the fiery light was gone from those speaking eyes, and his hair
lay wet and heavy upon his forehead. The storm had whirled his hat from
his head, but he did not notice it, neither did he know that a heavy
shower had drenched him to the skin. After wandering about in the woods
for hours, he had at last found this spot--a fitting place to accomplish
his purpose.

He had waited with feverish expectancy the message from Egon, and it had
come. No letter, only three lines with the signature, "Egon, Prince
Adelsberg," but these three lines, for him who received them, meant--the
end of all things. Thrust out forever and despised! The friend his heart
held dear asking neither for confirmation nor denial, but condemning
him unheard.

The crash of a mighty branch which had been broken in the whirlwind,
aroused Hartmut from his brooding. He was not alarmed, and turned his
head slowly to look where the heavy branch had fallen. Only a few feet
from him--why had it not struck him and ended his misery in a moment?
How welcome was the thought of death. Such fatalities follow only those
who love life. He who seeks death must accomplish it with his own hands.
He took his gun from his shoulder and set the stock firmly in the ground
and felt over his breast for the right place. He looked up at the veiled
heavens, then down at the little lake with the deceptive, marshy
meadow-lands beyond, with the old gray mist hovering over it as usual.

He seemed to see again the will-o'-the-wisp darting in and out, that
spirit of the marsh at which he had often gazed in the long ago over his
mother's shoulder, and while listening to her seductive words. He gave
no second look to the sky, no sign was in the heavens to-day to lead him
up to higher planes. One shot through the heart and all would be over.

He moved his hand to touch the trigger, when he heard a voice call his
name. It was a quick, desperate cry, and a figure tall and slender,
enveloped in a dark storm cloak, rushed before him. The gun fell from
his hands as he looked up to see Adelheid's face, white an