l did rejoice in having won a victory over that gray-winged
angel, Death! I thought to myself, with a curious sensation of wonder.

"You are very kind," I said, "and I want you to tell me something, Frau
Lutzler: how long have I been ill?"

"Fourteen days, Fraeulein; little as you may think it."

"Indeed! I have heard nothing about any one in that time. Who has been
made musik-direktor in place of Herr von Francius?"

Frau Lutzler folded her arms and composed herself to tell me a history.

"_Ja, Fraeulein_, the post would have been offered to Herr Courvoisier,
only, you see, he has turned out a good-for-nothing. But perhaps you
heard about that?"

"Oh, yes! I know all about it," said I, hastily, as I passed my
handkerchief over my mouth to hide the spasm of pain which contracted
it.

"Of course, considering all that, the Direktion could not offer it to
him, so they proposed it to Herr Helfen--you know Herr Helfen, Fraeulein,
_nicht_?"

I nodded.

"A good young man! a worthy young man, and so popular with his
companions! _Aber denken sie nur!_ The authorities might have been
offering him an insult instead of a good post. He refused it then and
there; would not stop to consider about it--in fact, he was quite angry
about it. The gentleman who was chosen at last was a stranger, from
Hanover."

"Herr Helfen refused it--why, do you know?"

"They say, because he was so fond of Herr Courvoisier, and would not be
set above him. It may be so. I know for a certainty that, so far from
taking part against Herr Courvoisier, he would not even believe the
story against him, though he could not deny it, and did not try to deny
it. _Aber_, Fraeulein--what hearts men must have! To have lived three
years, and let the world think him an honest man, when all the time he
had that on his conscience! _Schrecklich!_"

Adelaide and Courvoisier, it seemed, might almost be pelted with the
same stones.

"His wife, they say, died of grief at the disgrace--"

"Yes," said I, wincing. I could not bear this any longer, nor to discuss
Courvoisier with Frau Lutzler, and the words "his wife," uttered in that
speculatively gossiping tone, repelled me. She turned the subject to
Helfen again.

"Herr Helfen must indeed have loved his friend, for when Herr
Courvoisier went away he went with him."

"Herr Courvoisier is gone?" I inquired, in a voice so like my usual one
that I was surprised.

"Yes, certainly he is gone. I don't know where,