what
you come to tell me. You have heard something of my poor boy Eric; is
it not so?"

"It is, madame," replied the merchant, deceived by her composure. "I
grieve to say that I have received intelligence through the English
house of Lloyd's that the _Gustav Barentz_ foundered at sea in the
Southern Ocean early this year. Two boats escaped from her with the
crew and passengers, one of which, containing the first officer and
several hands, was picked up when those on board were in the last stage
of exhaustion, by a vessel bound to Australia. The men were taken to
Melbourne before any communication could be received from them, so that
is why the news of the wreck has been so long in reaching us."

"And Eric?" asked the widow, with her head bent down.

"He was with the captain in the other boat, dear madame," said Herr
Grosschnapper; "but, I'm afraid there is little or no chance of their
having been saved, or else we would have heard of them by this time.
Pray bear up under the loss, madame. He was a good son, I believe, and
would have made a good sailor and officer; but it was not to be!
Remember, you have another son left."

"Ah, but not Eric, my little one, my darling!" burst forth the poor
bereaved mother in a passion of tears; and then, the merchant, seeing
that any words of comfort on his part would be worse than useless,
withdrew.

The violence of Madame Dort's grief, however, was soon assuaged, for she
had long been preparing herself for this blow. She had given up all
hope of ever hearing from Eric again, even before Fritz left home.

Thenceforth, all her motherly love was bound up in her firstborn, now
the only son left her; and daily she scanned the papers to learn news of
the war.

Time passed on, the widow occasionally receiving a hurried scrawl from
Fritz, who, as she knew, was now no longer resting with the reserve
battalions in the fortresses of the Rhine, but marching onwards with the
invading army through France.

She heard of the terrible battle of Gravelotte, in which she dreaded
that he had taken part; but, almost before she could read the full
official details published in the German newspapers under military
censorship, her anxieties were relieved by a long letter coming from
Fritz, telling of his participation in the colossal contest and of his
miraculous escape without a wound, although he had been in the thick of
the fire and numbers of his comrades from the same part of the countr