you with us until you conquer this habit.' And it
turned out just as she said, for during the thirty years I've lived in
this house, my hands and lips have never touched a morsel that was not
mine."

Balbina died without receiving extreme unction. She regarded her
confession to my wife as having fully absolved her.

We never interfered with the religious opinions of our servants, but
when the priest told Balbina that Protestants would not go to heaven,
she answered, "I don't want to go to any other heaven but the one where
my mistress is."

We were now on the high road towards political unity, but was not the
antagonism in religious matters greater than ever before?

Ludwig wrote to Conny, informing her that he would soon return. She
often told me that her father, had, until his dying hour, cherished a
love of the Fatherland, and that no two men had ever had more beautiful
and affectionate relations with each other than Ludwig and her father.

Their projected journey to Italy was out of the question. How could
they now find pleasure in works of art? Ludwig would not rest content
until he could, in some way, be of service to his country.

Suddenly, there was great commotion in the village and cries of "The
French are coming!" were heard.

Lerz the baker had been driving along the valley-road at full tilt, and
had called out to the people who were working in the fields, "Unhitch
your horses! the French are coming!" They took the animals from their
wagons and ploughs and hurried homeward. But it soon turned out that
the news was false.

I do not think that this was wanton spite on the part of Lerz. He
swore--although his oath was of but little value--that a farmer from
down the valley had told him that he had seen the French. The rumor had
indeed been spread far and near, but no one could tell who had started
it.

CHAPTER X.

What could it have been that made me feel so proud when my
fellow-citizens elected me as their delegate? I was still full of
self-love, for, when I searched in my own heart, for the real cause, it
lay in a self-complacent satisfaction in the fact of my being the
chosen representative of many others.

All this was now changed. Now none were chosen, but all were called.
The whole people had become freed from egotism, and no one was
isolated. Of course the sacrifice was not made without a pang. All
thoughts were no longer centred on one man, but were di