esides, what is it?
Have I not possessed for four years, what must now be restored to the
hands of the rightful owner? Am I the first, or shall I be the last
woman, in whom a good, generous, noble man has been mistaken, when he
supposed she could fill his heart, and at whose feet he now, to the end
of his life, wishes to lay his duty, heroic, self-sacrificing? Fie, who
can accept such a sacrifice? Not I--not I--by my mother's blood, which
lives in me--not I!"

While uttering the last words, she had approached the door and now laid
her hand on the lock, saying: "Adieu! It is time--" when Franzelius
suddenly stood close beside her, placed his hand gently on her arm, and
looking steadily into her face, said:

"And yet notwithstanding all this, you will not go, Leah?"

"Not go? After all you have just heard?"

"No, Leah not even now."

She hastily released herself from his hold, and looked at him with
eyes flashing with anger; "I don't understand you, Reinhold. By what
right--"

"By what right do I interfere when you want to plunge into an abyss,
and drag Edwin with you? Can you ask, Leah? Must I explain to you, as
to a total stranger? Well then, I will remind you of what you have
forgotten, of him from whom I derive the right to fill a brother's
place to you and Edwin, because I promised him to do so, because it was
his legacy to me, a legacy, which I hold sacred and will fulfil to my
latest breath. If the living fails to persuade you to do your duty, to
perceive what your duty is--perhaps the dead may better succeed."

While he uttered these words he had approached the window and hastily
removed the covering from the bracket on the right. Under a square
glass cover, on a black cushion, lay Balder's death-mask, so warmly
illuminated by the lamplight, that the pure features of the beautiful,
still countenance, seemed to be animate with life. Leah sank back into
the chair in silence. In her first bewilderment she did not venture to
open her eyes.

"Take courage to look at him, dear friend," said Reinhold after a long
pause; "when you have conquered the first feeling of awe, you will
become more and more calm in the presence of this face. Do you not
think the resemblance very striking, seen from the side? Edwin's
_sister_ we might say. It was thus you saw this noble man for the first
and last time--you have never heard his voice, never seen his eyes or
his smile--you came too late. But believe me if he were now on e