ut into the farm-yard, and
walked through the cow-houses. The horned creatures looked full at her
with their large eyes, and raised their broad damp noses, some of them
lowing in expectation of receiving something good at her hands.

"Is Mr. Wohlfart here?" asked Lenore of the bailiff, who was hurrying by
to the stable.

"He is in the castle, my lady."

"His guest is with him, I suppose?" she further inquired.

"Herr von Fink rode off this morning early to Neudorf. He can't rest in
the house, and is always happiest on horseback. He should have been a
hussar."

When Lenore heard in which direction Herr von Fink had ridden, she
walked slowly in a different one to avoid meeting him, and crossed the
brook and the fields to the wood. She gazed at the blue sky and reviving
earth. The winter wheat and the green grass looked so cheerful that her
heart laughed within her. The spring had breathed on the willows along
the brook; the yellow branches were full of sap, and the first leaves
bursting out. Even the sand did not annoy her to-day. She stepped
rapidly through the expanse of it that girdled the forest, and hurried
on through the firs to the cottage. The whole wood was alive with hum
and cry. Wherever a group of other trees rose amid the firs, the loud
chirp of the chaffinch was heard, or the eager twitter of some little
newly-wedded birds, disputing about the position of their nest. The
beetle in his black cuirass droned around the buds of the chestnut; at
times a wild bee, newly wakened from its winter sleep, came humming by;
even brown butterflies fluttered over the bushes, and, wherever the
ground sunk into hollows, these were gay with the white and yellow stars
of the anemone and the primrose. Lenore took off her straw hat, and let
the mild breeze play about her temples, while she drew in long draughts
of forest fragrance. She often stopped and listened to the sounds
around her--contemplated the tender leaves of the trees, stroked the
white bark of the birch, stood by the rippling fountain before the
forester's house, and caressed the little firs in the hedge, which stood
as close and regular as the bristles in a brush. She thought she had
never seen the forest so cheerful before. The dogs barked furiously; she
heard the fox rattle his chain, and looked up at the bull-finch, who
jumped to and fro in his cage, and tried to bark like his superiors.

"Hush, Hector! hush Bergmann!" cried Lenore, knocking at the door.