his soul. The morning
sun had shone so radiantly into his window, and Annele had come with such
bewitching shyness to bring him a little bunch of lilies of the valley
with a rose in the centre, and a pleasant morning greeting from her
mother, that the cloud could not remain, yet it had only parted
occasionally to close again speedily, though it was less dense and dark
than before.

Yet he had taken the child in his arms and looked down into the narrow
street to show her the people going to market so gaily in the early
morning. But he soon put her down again, for he recognised in a horseman
approaching on a weary steed Count Curt Gleichen, the most intimate
friend of young Prince Hartmann and himself, and when he called to him he
had slid from his saddle with a faint greeting.

Heinz instantly rushed out of the house to meet him, but he had found him
beside his steed, which had sunk on its knees, and then, trembling and
panting, dragged itself, supported by its rider's hand, into the entry.
There it fell, rolled over on its side, and stretched its limbs stiffly
in death. It was the third horse which the messenger had killed since he
left the Rhine, yet he was sure of arriving too soon; for he had to
announce to a father the death of his promising son.

Heinz listened, utterly overwhelmed, to the narrative of the eye-witness,
who described how Hartmann, ere he could stretch out a hand to save him,
had been dragged into the depths by the waves of the Rhine.

In spite of the sunny brightness of the morning the young Swiss had had a
presentiment of some great misfortune, and had told himself that he would
welcome it if it relieved him from the burden which had darkened his soul
since the disgraceful good luck of the previous night. Now it had
happened, and how gladly he would have continued to bear the heaviest
load to undo the past. He had sobbed on his friend's breast like a child,
accusing Heaven for having visited him with this affliction.

Hartmann had been not only his friend but his pupil--and what a pupil! He
had instructed him in horsemanship and the use of the sword, and during
the last year shared everything with him and young Count Gleichen as if
they were three brothers and, like a brother, the prince had constantly
grown closer to his heart. Had he, Heinz, accompanied Hartmann to the
Rhine and been permitted to remain with him, neither or both would have
fallen victims to the river! And Hartmann's aged fath