e vicinity of the dreaded house. My knees
trembled so that I was obliged to seek support. Leaning against the wall
behind me, I recognized the door of the grocery store. Barbara was
sitting inside, a letter in her hand, the light upon the counter beside
her, and standing up straight close by was her father, who seemed to be
urging something upon her. I should have entered, even though my life
had been at stake. You have no idea how awful it is to have no one to
pour out one's heart to, no one to look to for sympathy. The old man, I
knew very well, was angry with me, but I thought the girl would say a
kind word to me. But it turned out just the other way. Barbara rose as I
entered, looked at me haughtily, and went into the adjoining room,
locking the door behind her. The old man, however, shook hands with me,
bade me sit down and consoled me, at the same time intimating that I was
now a rich man and my own master. He wanted to know how much I had
inherited. I couldn't tell him. He urged me to go to court about it,
which I promised to do. He was of the opinion that no fortune could be
made in a chancery. He then advised me to invest my inheritance in a
business, assured me that gallnuts and fruit would yield a good profit
and that a partner who understood this particular business could turn
dimes into dollars, and said that he himself had at one time done well
in that line.

"While he was telling me all this, he repeatedly called for the girl,
who gave no sign of life, however, although it seemed to me as though I
sometimes heard a rustling near the door. But since she did not put in
an appearance, and since the old man talked of nothing but money, I
finally took my leave, the grocer regretting that he could not accompany
me, as he was alone in the store. I was grievously disappointed that my
hopes had not been fulfilled, and yet I felt strangely consoled. As I
stopped in the street and looked over toward my father's house, I
suddenly heard a voice behind me saying in a subdued and indignant
tone: 'Don't be too ready to trust everybody; they're after your money.'
Although I turned quickly, I saw no one. Only the rattling of a window
on the ground floor of the grocer's house told me, even if I had not
recognized the voice, that the secret warning had come from Barbara. So
she had overheard what had been said in the store! Did she intend to
warn me against her father? Or had it come to her knowledge that
immediately after m