chelor. I'll say
nothing against the girls who remain unmarried, for I have found among
them many sweet, helpful souls."

"So have I, but unfortunately some bad ones too, as well as here in the
dove-cote. On the whole my wards lead happy married lives, but if it
comes to a separation--"

"Which of the two is to blame?"

"Nine times out of ten the little wife."

"Roland, my fore man, exactly as it is among human beings," cried the
fencing-master, clapping his hands.

"What do you mean by your Roland, Herr Allerts? You promised me a short
time ago--but who is coming up the ladder?"

"I hear your mother."

"She is bringing me a visitor. I know that voice and yet. Wait. It's old
Fraulein Van Hoogstraten's steward."

"From Nobelstrasse? Let me go, Wilhelm, for this Glipper crew--"

"Wait a little while, there is only room for one on the ladder," said
the musician, holding out his hand to Belotti to guide him from the last
rung into his room.

"Spaniards and the allies of Spain," muttered the fencing-master, opened
the door, and called while descending the ladder: "I'll wait down below
till the air is pure again."

The steward's handsome face, usually smoothly shaven with the most
extreme care, was to-day covered with a stubbly beard, and the old man
looked sad and worn, as he began to tell Wilhelm what had occurred in
his mistress's house since the evening of the day before.

"Years may make a hot-tempered person weaker, but not calmer," said the
Italian, continuing his story. "I can't look on and see the poor angel,
for she isn't far from the Virgin's throne, treated like a sick dog that
is flung out into the court-yard, so I got my discharge."

"That does you honor, but was rather out of place just now. And has the
young lady really been carried to the damp room?"

"No, sir. Father Damianus came and made the old excellenza understand
what the holy Virgin expected of a Christian, and when the padrona still
tried to carry out her will, the holy man spoke to her in words so
harsh and stern that she yielded. The signorina is now lying in bed with
burning cheeks, raving in delirium."

"And who is attending the patient?"

"I came to you about the physician, my dear sir, for Doctor de Bout, who
instantly obeyed my summons, was treated so badly by the old excellenza,
that he turned his back upon her and told me, at the door of the house,
he wouldn't come again."

Wilhelm shook his head, and the Italian contin