me--I am often fairly disgusted
with life, though I can complain of nothing. I feel so oppressed and
anxious, and nothing pleases me; I wish for I know not what, and fear I
know not why. You're so clever, Herr Walter. What is the cause of
this?"

"Dear Reginchen"--and he seized her hand and gazed into the frank face
which was turned toward him with innocent curiosity. He was seeking for
words to intimate to her, that it was the exuberance of youth and the
yearning desire for love which disgusted her with her everyday life;
perhaps he meant to summon courage to confess that he too had the same
feelings. But she suddenly withdrew her hand.

"Didn't you hear? The old lady has rung for me; heaven knows what she
wants. Her girl has gone, because it's her Sunday out, and there's
nobody to wait on her but me. Eat your dinner, Herr Walter, perhaps if
I have time, I'll come up again for five minutes. You're altogether too
lonely, and on Sunday too!"

She glided out of the room. He was almost glad that they had been
interrupted. What could he have said to her, without entirely betraying
himself? And if she had learned his feelings and confessed her love for
him what would have followed? Would it not have been a betrothal, and
must not Edwin have been told? And yet it seemed impossible that any
one should know of this wonderful fairy dream. And could it be
possible? He thought of his delicate health, his seclusion from the
world, his youthfulness--he had seen but twenty years--was he one to
step forward, like other men, and say: "here's a girl whose husband I
wish to become, with whom I desire to found a home, and--rear
children!" As this thought passed through his mind though entirely
alone he blushed crimson and shook his head. Then he sat down to the
table, and as he ate the simple food with a good appetite, his
confidence in his destiny increased and he became very well satisfied
and silently resolved if she came up in the afternoon, to tell her that
he thought he knew what she desired and feared:--To give her heart to
another heart, and lose her own life to celebrate a joyful resurrection
in another.

But he had long finished his dinner, and the cat had licked the plates
so clean that they shone in the sun, and still his little housekeeper
kept him waiting. For the first time in his life he felt a weary
impatience that he could not dispel. He heard the clock strike four and
then five; the sunlight faded, and he suddenly