advantage over all three, it can be flung off like a
worn-out doublet. Let it fly! Had he owed it the happiness of the last
few weeks? No, no! He would have been happy with his mother in a poor,
plain house, without the office of Eletto, without flowers, horses or
servants. It was to her, not to power, that he was indebted for every
blissful hour, and now that she had gone, how desolate was the void in
his heart!

Suddenly the recollection of his father and Ruth illumined his misery
like a sunbeam. The game of Eletto was now over, he would go to Antwerp
the next day.

Why had fate snatched his mother from him just now, why did it deny him
the happiness of seeing his parents united? His father--she had sorely
wronged him, but for what will not death atone? He must take him some
remembrance of her, and went to her room to look through her chest. But
it no longer stood in the old place--the owner of the house, a rich
matron, who had been compelled to occupy an attic-room, while strangers
were quartered in her residence, had taken charge of the pale orphan and
the boxes after Florette's death.

The good Netherland dame provided for the adopted child and the property
of her enemy, the man whose soldiers had pillaged her brothers and
cousins. The death of the woman below had moved her deeply, for the
wonderful charm of Florette's manner had won her also.

Towards midnight Ulrich took the lamp and went upstairs. He had long
since forgotten to spare others, by denying himself a wish.

The knocking at the door and the passing to and fro in the entry had kept
Frau Geel awake. When she heard the Eletto's heavy step, she sprang up
from her spinning-wheel in alarm, and the maid-servant, half roused from
sleep, threw herself on her knees.

"Frau Geel!" called a voice outside.

She recognized Navarrete's tones, opened the door, and asked what he
desired.

"It was his mother," thought the old lady as he threw clothes, linen and
many a trifle on the floor. "It was his mother. Perhaps he wants her
rosary or prayer book. He is her son! They looked like a happy couple
when they were together. A wild soldier, but he isn't a wicked man yet."

While he searched she held the light for him, shaking her head over the
disorder among the articles where he rummaged.

Ulrich had now reached the bottom of the chest. Here he found a valuable
necklace, booty which Zorrillo had given his companion for use in case of
need. This should be Rut