r's intentions?
and if he _had_ heard of them, why should they so affect him?--The
notion that jealousy could have any share in his vexation, never
suggested itself to her mind for a moment. She wanted to talk it over
frankly with him; only he had taken himself and his gloom for a
solitary saunter, along the highroad, past the last detached houses,
towards the open country, perfectly insensible to the charms of a
lovely afternoon in early spring. He came to a halt before an ancient
country-house long since deserted, and stood looking through the
railings at the neglected garden--The dried-up basin of the fountain,
that had long ceased to flow, was now filled up with decaying leaves
and exuberant nettles.

A kneeling nymph in the scanty drapery of the French school, with her
urn gently inclined, seemed bending over it, in melancholy
contemplation of the weeds. It was a pretty little figure, and would
have deserved a better fate. Now the sparrows made a perch of her
polished shoulders, and the wreath upon her head was crumbling into
dust. What kept Walter standing there so long, on the spot from which
he could best see the contours of that figure as they stood out against
the darkness of the grotto?

A measure or two of the merry music swept past him, borne on the
evening wind; he looked as if he were waiting for the lonely beauty to
rise to her feet, and come towards him. He could not tire of gazing on
those slender lines of beauty, which many a time before, he had passed
without even seeing, for all his artist eye--and now they seemed to
haunt him; he began to feel uneasy; he tore himself away, and heaving a
deep sigh, he thoughtfully retraced his steps.

He arrived just in time to see his party break up, but he did not join
it. He followed at a distance, keeping his eye upon it.

This time, mother and daughter walked in front, with Lottchen's
partner; while Helen and Dr. Hansen followed. He saw that she spoke
kindly to him, and fancied he could see that the lawyer no longer
doubted the fulfilment of his wishes. Now he even saw her laugh, at
something her suitor said.

Their way home took them past the house where Dr. Hansen lived; they
stopped before it, and he pointed upwards, and said something, to which
she returned no answer; but her eyes followed the direction of his
hand, and then they both walked on, as it appeared, in a graver mood.

Their distant watcher concluded that all was settled, and a feeling of