he didn't
want anybody to know about her, and gave out that she was his son.'

"Traugott stood as if petrified. Then he set off running through the
streets, out at the town-gate to the open country, and on into the
woods, loudly lamenting.

"'Miserable wretch that I am!' he cried. 'It was she!--it was herself!
I have sate beside her thousands of times; inhaled her breath, pressed
her delicate hands, looked into her beautiful eyes, listened to her
sweet accents! and now she is lost! Ah, no!--lost she is not! After her
to the land of art! The hint of destiny is clear. Away!--away to
Sorrento!' He rushed home. Elias Roos chanced to come in his way. He
seized him, and dragged him into his room.

"'I'll never marry Christina!' he shouted; 'she's like the Voluptas,
and the Luxuries, and has hair like the Ira, in the picture in the
Artus Hof. Felizitas! beautiful, beloved being! how you stretch out
your longing arms to me! I am coming! I am coming! and I give you fair
warning, Elias,' he continued, once more clutching that man of
business, whose face was as white as a sheet, 'that you'll never see me
in that damned office of yours any more! What the devil do I care for
your infernal ledgers and day-books? I'm a painter--and a good painter
too: Berklinger is my master, my father, my everything; and you are
nothing--and less than nothing!'

"With this he gave Elias a good shaking, who shouted at the top of his
lungs, 'Help! help, you fellows! Come here! the son-in-law's gone off
his head! My partner's raving! Help! help!'

"The clerks all came rushing out of the office; Traugott had left Elias
go, and was lying exhausted in a chair. They all came round him; but on
his jumping up suddenly, with a wild look, and crying, 'What the devil
do you want?' they ran jostling out at the door in a heap, with Herr
Elias in the centre. Presently there was a rustling, as of a silk
dress, outside, and a voice inquired:

"Are you really gone out of your senses, Mr. Traugott, or are you only
joking?'

"It was Christina.

"'I'm not a bit wrong in my head, my clear child,' Traugott answered,
'and I'm not joking in the slightest degree. But there'll be no wedding
to-morrow, as far as I am concerned. As to that, my mind's completely
made up. It's impossible that ever I can marry you at all.'

"'Oh, very well,' said Christina, without the smallest excitement; 'I
haven't been caring so much about you for some time as I used, and
there are