dom could resist; a breath of freshest, purest
youthfulness;--an innate tact of the heart; a dash of that genuine
genial humour, that lends wings to the soul, and raises it high above
the vulgar worship of any of the golden calves and idols of the day. It
was strange;--but with this young pupil of hers, in worldly matters a
child, she could discourse of the last aim and end of all mortal life,
as though they had been centenarians in experience, and in years.

Thus it had been, and this had been their happiness; and was it to be
no more? had it suddenly become so dangerous? Was it now to be avoided
as a snare? She had been told to her face, that it was for the sake of
this lad, that she rejected all her suitors. Well, she would not
attempt to deny it. She would have deceived any man to whom she would
have sworn to be only his. This feeling had grown to be a passion; but
a passion that was hallowed by years of purest tenderness, of most
unselfish sacrifice. She looked upon him as her own; and had she not a
right to him?--what would he have been, without her?

And was she really to give him up?--The thought was more than she could
bear. _He_ did not wish to leave her--_he_ knew how necessary she was
to him. Could there really be danger in remaining as they were?--To
him, certainly none; his whole life lay before him yet, wide and
distant. _He_ could not lose by perfecting his growth in shade and
solitude. To suppose that her own presence could prove dangerous to
him, seemed nothing less than madness. She felt herself older by ten
additional years to those she already was.

Could he ever possess her heart more entirely than he already did? was
that possible?--And if it were, what harm could it do her?--She had
nothing else in life to make it valuable to her, but this one feeling.

And yet she had been weeping,--long and bitterly. She felt as if some
mute veiled fate were ever by her side. With all her self-command, and
bracing resolutions, wherewith to strengthen herself in her own rights,
and in the consciousness that others could have no legitimate power
over her--except she gave it them--she could not overcome a feeling of
anxiety, and an instinct that their happiest days were over, and trials
and difficulties impending.

The Meister's threat of sending the lad away on his Wanderschaft, had
not seriously alarmed her. She knew that he would scarcely make up his
mind to part with him. Certainly not to drive him to a co