after our understanding? You
have kept very imperfectly to our agreement. I see plainly that my good
friend is inclined to give me up, and withdraw with the best grace
possible; but permit me to remark that this will hardly avail you. You
will not get rid of me."

"Be generous, Herr von Fink," cried Lenore, in extreme excitement. "Do
not make what I have to do still harder. Yes, I am preparing to part
from this place--to part from you."

"You refuse, then, to remain with me?" said Fink, with a frowning brow.
"Very well; I shall return, and implore till I am heard. If you run
away, I shall run after you; and if you cut off your beautiful hair and
fly to a convent, I'll leap the walls and fetch you out. Have I not
wooed you as the adventurer in the fairy tales does the king's daughter?
To win you, proud Lenore, I have turned sand into grass, and transformed
myself into a respectable farmer. Therefore, beloved mistress, be
reasonable, and do not torment me by maidenly caprices."

"Oh, respect such caprices," cried Lenore, bursting into tears. "In the
solitude of these last weeks I have wrestled hourly with my sorrow. I am
a poor girl, whose duty it is to live for her afflicted parent. The
dower that I should bring you would be sickness, gloom, and poverty."

"You are mistaken," replied Fink, earnestly. "Our friend has provided
for you. He has hunted two rascals into the water, and has paid your
father's debts. The baron has a nice little fortune remaining; and I can
tell your perverse ladyship you are no bad match after all, if you lay
any stress upon that. The letter you hold upsets all your philosophy."

Lenore looked at the envelope and threw the letter away.

"No," cried she, beside herself. "When, shattered by sorrow, I lay upon
your breast, you then told me I was to get stronger; and every day I
feel that, when I come into contact with you, I have no strength, no
opinion, no will of my own. Whatever you say appears to me right, and I
forget how I thought before. What you require I must needs do,
unresisting as a slave. The woman who goes through life at your side
should be your equal in intellect and power, and should feel reliant in
her own province; but I am an uncultivated, helpless girl. In my foolish
love I let it appear that I could do for your sake what no woman should.
You find nothing in me to respect. You would kiss me and--endure me."
Lenore's hand clenched, and her eyes flashed as she spoke.

"Does