n
Halden was in treaty, and would probably sell her estate.

"Sell her estate?" asked the mother astonished, "and she could
nevertheless be so cheerful, nay, so gay?"

"She thinks," replied Dorothea, "she ought not to reject so
advantageous a bargain on account of her infant children."

"Is there any advantage," said the mother, "which can counterbalance to
children the happiness of home? And she herself, your friend, who grew
up here upon her estate, who lived here with parents and brothers and
sisters, and afterwards with a beloved husband, how can she thus become
a voluntary outcast, and turn her back upon these trees, banish herself
from the rooms which she loved and was familiar with as a child? Again
and again I am struck with observing how utterly unintelligible to me
are the conduct and motives of the great majority of mankind.----And
who, then, is the purchaser?"

"The thing is odd enough," replied Dorothea; "the purchaser will not
have his name published; but one Count Brandenstein conducts the
negotiation. My friend is eager and decided, for the foreigner from
America is buying several other estates, so that she esteems it a
privilege, as he does not look minutely at the price, to be able to
dispose of hers to the stranger."

At the name of Brandenstein the mother turned pale. She endeavoured
however to compose herself directly, and said after a little pause,
"Ay, that was the name which has been lying, for a week past, heavy
upon my heart. I was already aware that this man is here, who will now
for some time spoil our quiet enjoyment, and disturb the harmony of our
circle. And I cannot avoid seeing him, for he is an old acquaintance of
our family, and the custom of the world forces us, we know, to maintain
a friendly intercourse even with persons whom we most heartily dislike,
nay, whom, however candid may be our thoughts, we cannot help
acknowledging to be bad and profligate men."

Dorothea was of opinion that, where so distinct a feeling prevailed, a
man ought to put no constraint upon himself; and that particularly in
the country, where they lived, it would be still easier than in town,
to avoid such offensive intrusions. The mother however said, "You do
not understand this, my child. Were it not that an unconscientious
unprincipled man might injure or mortify us in the most sensible
manner; were it not that he had it in his power, by means of wit and
frivolity, to embitter our whole existence, I w