t the
crackling firewood in the stove, and musing in silent melancholy upon
the social and endearing qualities of the friend with whom they had
parted--perhaps for ever. Meanwhile the materials for the most cheering
of all potations lay untouched upon the table, the candles remained
unlighted and forgotten, and, as if by tacit agreement, the friends
continued to indulge in retrospective musings until the twilight waned
into darkness, and the flickering light from the open door of the stove
just enabled each of them to discern the saddened features of his
neighbour. When returning to the city, their exhausted spirits had been
painfully jarred by the spectacle, so rare in Germany, of a scaffold
erecting without the ramparts for the execution of a murderer. Some
remarks of the humane Professor upon the crime and punishment of the
condemned did not tend to cheer the young men, who replied in
monosyllables, and were pondering in mute and melancholy excitement upon
the awful catastrophe so near at hand, when a tap at the door made them
all start from the reverie in which they had been too deeply absorbed to
hear any one ascending the stairs. "Come in," at length shouted the
Professor, after pausing a little to recollect himself. The door was
gently opened, and the dying flame in the stove threw its last blaze
upon the pallid features of a tall and handsome youth, who entered the
room with diffidence, and inquired if Professor N. was at home. "Here I
am, my dear Julius," answered the kind Professor, as he rose from his
chair, and grasped with cordial pressure the hand of the inquirer. "Can
I do anything to oblige you?"

"I have called upon you to request a favour," answered the stranger
hesitatingly, as he surveyed with searching looks the three students,
whose features were not distinguishable in the Rembrandt chiaroscuro of
the Professor's study.

"If no secret," said the Professor briskly, as he replenished his stove
with beechwood, "explain yourself freely. All present are my particular
friends, and certainly no enemies of yours. Say, my dear boys! you all
know and respect our worthy Harpocrates?"

The students briefly assented, and the Professor invited the stranger to
take a seat near the fire, which, darting playfully through the pile of
beech, soon roared loudly up the chimney. "I believe that Lieutenant B.
is your near relation?" began the pale youth, in tones which betrayed an
inward tremor.

"He is my nephew,"