the worthy old clerk's heart with
pity and indignation; so he eagerly embraced the opportunity afforded to
atone to the young girls for the wrongs committed against them by their
fellow-citizens. Telling the maidservants to wait in the antechamber of
the orphan's court-room, he led the sisters to his own office, helping
Eva up the long flight of stairs with an arm which, though aged, was
still vigorous. After insisting that she should sit in the armchair
before the big desk, and placing wine and water before her, he begged the
young girls to wait until his return. He was obliged to be present at the
meeting, which had probably already begun. The matter in question was the
Eysvogel business, and if Els would remain he could tell her the result.
Then he left them.

Eva, deadly pale, leaned back with closed eyes in the clerk's high chair.
Els bathed her brow with a wet handkerchief, consoling her by
representing how foolish it would be to suffer the lowest of the populace
to destroy her happiness.

Her sister nodded assent, saying: "Did you notice the faces of those
people behind the bars? Most of them, I thought, looked stupid rather
than evil." Here she hesitated, and then added thoughtfully: "Yet they
cannot be wise. These poor creatures seldom obtain any great sum by
thieving and cheating. To what terrible punishments they expose
themselves both in this world and the next! And conscience!"

"Yes, conscience!" Els eagerly repeated. "So long as we can say that we
have done nothing wrong, we can suffer even the worst to be said of us
without grieving."

"Still," sighed Eva, "I feel as if that horrible woman's insults had
sullied me with a stain no water can wash away. What sorrows have come
upon us since our mother died, Els!"

Her sister nodded, and added mournfully: "Our father, my Wolff, your
poor, stricken heart, and below in the Council chamber, Eva, perhaps
whilst we are talking, those who are soon to be my kindred are being
doomed. That is harder to bear, child, than the invectives with which a
wicked woman slanders us. Often I do not know myself where I get the
strength to keep up my courage."

She turned away as she spoke to wipe the tears from her eyes without
being seen; but Eva perceived it, and rose to clasp her in her arms and
whisper words of cheer. Ere she had taken the first step, however, she
started; in rising she had upset the clerk's tin water-pail, which fell
rattling on the floor.

"The wat