h a solemn rite, and in like
manner begin the new one. It was an admirable custom of our ancestors,
in some districts, to celebrate the exequies of the carnival with a fit
of pure genuine extravagance, to let their spirits once more run wild
at the end of the holidays, and surfeit themselves with mirth, that
they might afterwards indulge their devotion uninterruptedly, and
without the slightest scruple of conscience. Let us observe that
worshipful custom; I have a yearning, dost see, towards thee, my little
pet; give us and thy mad humours once more a right choice carouse, a
solemn farewell dithyrambic, that thou mayst live in our memories,
especially in mine; let us be joyous over the best wine till late in
the night; then thou turnest off to the right to virtue and discretion,
and the rest of us stay on the left where we are."

"Guzzler!" said Edward smiling, "so long as thou findest but a pretext
for getting drunk, all is well with thee. Let it be then on Twelfth
Night."

"That is still four days off," sighed the old man, draining the last
drop, and then silently retired.

* * * * *

"We shall have a little party to dinner today," said counsellor Walther
to his daughter.

"Indeed!" said Sophia. "And will young Edward come too?"

"No," answered her father. "How comes he into your head?"

"I was only thinking," said Sophia, "that you might perhaps wish to
make him some amends, by an invitation, for the disagreeable scene
which he was forced to go through against your will in your house."

"To-day," replied the old gentleman, "would of all days be the least
suitable, for the very man by whom the youth was affronted is to dine
with us."

"Ay! he?" said the maid, with a lengthened tone.

"It looks as if you had a dislike to this stranger."

"An exceeding one," cried Sophia; "for in the first place, I cannot
bear any body when one does not know exactly who he is; this incognito
is a dear pleasure in a strange place, to make a man pass for something
extraordinary when he has precisely nothing at all to conceal; and such
is no doubt the case with this Unknown, who has all the appearance of a
chamberlain or secretary out of place, and gave himself yesterday in
your gallery the airs of a superintendent-general of all the missionary
institutions."

"You said, in the first place; now then in the second place?" asked the
father smiling.

"In the second place," said she laughing,