er her first glance at
the imposing document.

"The Imperial Seal!" she exclaimed. "A letter from the Emperor
himself!

"But, what is this?" she continued, as she read farther. "He speaks
about a pardon. What have you done, Herr Kreutzer?"

"It is very simple, Madame," he replied. "Now that I have this, now I
can tell all. It had been necessary, as I have explained, that my
marriage to my dear Anna's mother be kept secret. When, after one
short year, she died, as I have already told you, all came to light.

"I was an officer in His Majesty's Imperial guards. One day a fellow
officer, an enemy who had always hated me, insulted me because of my
marriage--insulted the memory of my dead wife. There was a duel. He
fell, as I thought, mortally wounded. The law was strict against
participants in duels, and because I could not be parted from my
little Anna I took her in my arms and we left Prussia--I believed
forever. But at last the Emperor has relented and has pardoned me. He
calls me back to Prussia! Ah, it is like him! He has not forgotten!"

"Were you such friends?" asked Mrs. Vanderlyn with awe.

"We were schoolmates at the College in Bonn," he answered. "We have
drunk the hoffbrau together--in a beer garden."

Gone was all the scorn of Mrs. Vanderlyn. Quite forgotten, to all
outward seeming, were her apprehensions lest the old musician's
daughter might be unworthy of her son, her fears lest the old man,
himself, should prove to be a handicap upon her social aspirations.
She was still running through the papers, and, it must be said, with
real intelligence and understanding, and her face was beaming with
delight. It was as if from the beginning she had favored him and Anna
and was now delighted to find confirmation of the confidence which she
had felt in them.

"How absolutely splendid!" she exclaimed. "John, it is really true. I
know my Almanach de Gotha--all the titles." Turning, now, to Kreutzer,
she beamed upon him with a cordial smile which plainly took no count
of all the frowns which, in the past few minutes, she had sent in his
direction. "But Lichtenstahl is a magnificent estate. How does it
happen that you--"

"The estate was lost to me, Madame, through the folly of my ancestors;
but--their pride I have inherited. Therefore, although I know that I
cannot prevent this marriage, I will not give consent to it." He
turned, now, to his daughter. "Rather, Anna, I go from your life
forever!"

"You shall n