minds, or such understanding as they may be blessed
with. In these days one rarely hears seriously mentioned such unruly
words as 'Love,' or 'Wretchedness,' or 'Despair,' which may nevertheless
be important factors in bringing about that result which stands out to
the light of day for public inspection."

The three days which I passed alone and in suspense were very terrible
ones to me. I felt myself physically as well as mentally ill, and it was
in vain that I tried to learn anything of or from Adelaide, and I waited
in a kind of breathless eagerness for the end of it all, for I knew as
well as if some one had shouted it aloud from the house-tops that that
farewell in the Malkasten garden was not the end.

Early one morning, when the birds were singing and the sunshine
streaming into the room, Frau Lutzler came into the room and put a
letter into my hand, which she said a messenger had left. I took it, and
paused a moment before I opened it. I was unwilling to face what I knew
was coming--and yet, how otherwise could the whole story have ended?

"DEAR MAY,--You, like me, have been suffering during these three
days. I have been trying--yes, I have tried to believe I could bear
this life, but it is too horrible. Isn't it possible that sometimes
it may be right to do wrong? It is of no use telling you what has
passed, but it is enough. I believe I am only putting the crowning
point to my husband's revenge when I leave him. He will be glad--he
does not mind the disgrace for himself; and he can get another
wife, as good as I, when he wants one. When you read this, or not
long afterward, I shall be with Max von Francius. I wrote to him--I
asked him to save me, and he said, 'Come!' It is not because I want
to go, but I must go somewhere. I have made a great mess of my
life. I believe everybody does make a mess of it who tries to
arrange things for himself. Remember that, May.

"I wonder if we shall ever meet again. Not likely, when you are
married to some respectable, conventional man, who will shield you
from contamination with such as I. I must not write more or I shall
write nonsense. Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye! What will be the end
of me? Think of me sometimes, and try not to think too hardly.
Listen to your heart--not to what people say. Good-bye again!

"ADELAIDE."

I received this stroke without