on't understand you," she replied, "and moreover do not know why I
should take the trouble to understand you--above all, why _you_ should
take the trouble to attempt to aid me in your own way. I do not feel at
all sick, and what I need to make me _happy_ neither man nor God can
give. If the sense of your sinfulness has made you long for a
'Saviour,' I do not envy you this happiness. I am a lonely woman; I
have nothing but myself, my pride, my obstinacy, if you choose to call
it so. If I must lose this, must become a worm and wallow in the
mire--then to be sure I too might probably succeed in crawling to the
cross. But I do not desire a God, who must draw me to himself through
sin and disgrace! If he cannot clasp his honest, upright creatures to
his heart, I prefer to remain a step child."

"You _prefer_." said Lorinser in a low, but very impressive tone. "If
you always _can_ do so."

"Who is to prevent me from being faithful to myself?"

"One who is stronger than our wills: the devil."

"I am too old for nursery tales."

"Oh! my dear child," he replied, "there are nursery tales which we
first experience, when our infant's socks are laid aside and we have
discarded the nurse's milk for sound human reason. Have you never
learned that some power is exerted over our wills by a sudden, as it
were magical influence? Has no eye ever bewitched you, no voice ever
set your blood on fire, no hand ever destroyed your defiant obstinacy
by a single touch?"

A deep flush suddenly suffused Fraeulein Falk's dark face.

"How do you presume to play the part of an inquisitor toward a lady
whom you see for the first time?" she vehemently burst forth. "Be kind
enough to leave me, sir, our conversation has taken a turn--"

She drew back as if to leave the way to the door open. He smilingly
took his hat from the table, but remained standing in the middle of the
room, waving it carelessly to and fro, with his eyes fixed upon the
floor.

"You wrong me," said he. "I am not so indiscreet as to seek to force
myself into your confidence. What I said was aimed at people in
general. Inspired poets and sentimental children of the world talk of
the magic of love. As if these things were not perfectly natural, so
natural that the power exercised over the will has been very properly
compared to chemical processes. The word magic can only be used when
unnatural--supernatural things occur. If you follow the promptings of
your inclinations, your b