in youth."

"You are right," said the merchant. "He who leaves his home is seldom
aware of all that he relinquishes, and only finds it out when home
recollections become the charm of his later years. Such recollections
often form a sanctuary, mocked and dishonored indeed, but always
revisited in his best hours."

"I confess, with a certain degree of shame," said Fink, "that I am
little conscious of this charm. The fact is, I do not exactly know where
my home is. Looking back, I find that I have lived most of my years in
Germany, but foreign countries have left a livelier impression on my
mind. Destiny has always torn me away before I could take deep root any
where. And now, at times, I find myself a stranger here. For example,
the dialects of the provinces are unintelligible to me. I get more
presents than I deserve on Christmas-day, but am not touched by the
magic of the Christmas-tree; and few of the popular melodies you are all
so proud of, haunt my ear. And, besides these smaller matters, there are
other things in which I feel deficient," continued he, more earnestly;
"I know that at times I make too heavy demands upon the indulgence of my
friends. I shall have to thank your house," said he, in conclusion,
turning to the merchant, "if I ever acquire a knowledge of the best side
of the German character."

Fink spoke with a degree of feeling he rarely showed. Sabine was happy;
the sparrow was forgotten; and she cried, with irrepressible emotion,
"That was nobly said, Herr von Fink."

The servants then announced that supper was ready.

The merchant took his place in the middle, and Sabine smiled brightly
when Fink sat down, at her side.

"I must have you opposite me, Liebold," cried the principal; "I must
see your honest face before me to-day. We have now been connected for
five-and-twenty years. Mr. Liebold joined us a few weeks after my father
took me into partnership," said he, by way of explanation to the younger
clerks; "and while I am indebted to you all, I am most indebted to him."
He held up his glass: "I drink your good health, my old friend; and so
long as our desks stand side by side, separated only by a thin
partition, so long shall there exist between us, as heretofore, a full
and firm confidence, without many spoken words."

Liebold had stood at the beginning of this speech, and he remained
standing. He wished to propose a health, it was evident, for he looked
at the principal, held up his glass,