CHAPTER I.

A fortnight had elapsed. The autumnal storms, which had burst over the
country, had stripped the last withered leaf from the top of the acacia
tree, and the little garden with its shade loving plants, as well as
the dry tendrils of the bean vines, were destroyed by the ceaseless
rain.

Even in the "tun," whose inmates usually possessed the art of making
the sunlight within shine all the more brightly in the stormiest
weather, a strangely dull, sorrowful mood had prevailed, like the
autumn mists which float over forest and meadow, and are only now and
then lighted by a noontide sunbeam. A dull oppression weighed upon
Edwin's mind, and with all his manliness he was unable to shake it off.
This mysterious silence and disappearance caused him more pain than the
sharpest break in his life, the most open renunciation on the part of
the beloved being. He hourly felt that all must be past, but he could
not yet realize it to be at an end. It was as if he carried a bullet in
his body very near the vital organs, and until it was extracted, no one
could tell whether he would survive or bleed to death.

Besides, now that he again spent more time in the house, he became very
anxious about Balder. During the time of his futile love-making, when
he had often only seen his brother at dinner or late in the evening,
the latter had succeeded in concealing the fact that his time was
divided between arduous toil and complete exhaustion. Now it could no
longer be hidden. Marquard, whom Edwin instantly called in to prescribe
for a first severe attack of pain in the chest, shook his head very
angrily over the unpardonable carelessness which had permitted matters
to go so far. He forbade Balder to make the slightest exertion, and
during some of the stormiest days kept him in bed. Balder smilingly
protested against his tyranny, and declared that he did not suffer at
all; nay that he could breathe more freely and easily when in his
stooping posture at the turning lathe. He would doubtless have
carefully avoided acknowledging that, when at work, he could more
easily forget the anxiety about his health which daily became more
pressing. But it was useless. Edwin saw through the ambiguous words,
especially as, roused from his long dream, he had now discovered for
the first time that during the last few weeks Balder must have done
double work to defray the current expenses. This was all that was
needed to make the recollection