ss
which she found it hardest to bear proceeded directly from him.

He had probably mentioned her to his royal brother, and revenues had been
granted her far exceeding poor Wawerl's dreams, and doubtless a
reflection of the admiration which her son earned fell upon her, and her
pride was greatly increased. Moreover, she could again devote herself
without fear to her ardently beloved art, for even honest old Appenzelder
declared that he liked to listen to her, though her voice still lacked
much of the overpowering magic of former days. She was in a position,
too, to gratify many a taste for whose satisfaction she had often
yearned, yet she could not attain a genuine and thorough new sense of
happiness.

The weeks which, a few years after her John's recognition, she spent with
self-sacrificing devotion beside her husband's couch of pain, which was
to become his deathbed, passed amid anxiety and grief, and when her
affectionate, careful nursing proved vain, and Pyramus died, deep and
sincere sorrow overpowered her. True, he had not succeeded in winning her
to return his tender love; but after he had closed his eyes she realized
for the first time what a wealth of goodness and fidelity was buried with
him and lost to her forever.

Her youngest boy, soon after his father's death, was torn from her by
falling into a cistern, and she yielded herself to such passionate grief
for his loss that she thought she could never conquer it; but it was soon
soothed by the belief that, for the sake of this devout child, whose
training for a religious life had already commenced, Heaven had resigned
its claims upon John, and that the boy was dwelling in the immediate
presence of the Queen of Heaven.

Thus, ere she was aware of it, her burning anguish changed into a
cheerful remembrance. Earlier still--more than two years after Wolf's
departure--tidings closely associated with the sorrow inflicted through
her John had saddened her. The ship which was to bear the loyal companion
of her youth to Spain was wrecked just before the end of the voyage, and
Wolf went down with it. Barbara learned the news only by accident, and
his death first made her realize with full distinctness how dear he had
been to her.

The letter which she had addressed to her son was lost with the man in
whom Fate had wrested from her the last friend who would have been able
and willing to show her John clearly and kindly a correct picture of his
mother's real charac