to be your poor
son who has met with so tragical an end, no one would deny a mother the
bitter consolation of blessing to its eternal rest, the head she had
carried beneath her heart. Again, as regards official formalities, it
is unfitting that we should satisfy ourselves with the declaration of a
vagabond female, when we have the most convincing witness at hand; for
it may prove desirable hereafter, with regard to future demises,
inheritances, and the like, to have some certain knowledge to go upon.
Therefore I determined to come to you, to lay the whole case before
you, and persuade you, if I can, to pay a visit to the hospital--as
secretly as you will--in order to prevent all useless suspense or
suspicion."

So saying he rose and went to the window to give Frau Helena time to
collect herself and come to a decision. A quarter of an hour passed
away, during which nothing was audible in the small room but the
ticking of the great clock--a wedding present from Lisabethli's
grandfather to his daughter-in-law, bearing on its metal face the
family arms of the Amthors. Out of doors, too, all was still--nothing
to be heard but the cawing of a flight of rooks wending their way over
the terrace, or the muffled thud of an over-ripe apple on the grass.

At length the lady rose and approached her old and tried friend, who
met her rigid gaze with an expression of sorrowful sympathy. "I thank
you," she said, "for having come to me, and performed this painful duty
with so much consideration. Say to the highly respected mayor that I
shall find myself at about nine o'clock at the side-door of the
hospital, and should wish to be met there by some trustworthy person,
and this painful step concealed from all who might be likely to talk of
it. The rest I leave in God's hand--He will order it aright."

"I shall be there myself to meet you," replied the sergeant. "May our
Lord God strengthen your heart, and your frame, and grant us the
fulfilment of our hope that this may prove merely an accidental
coincidence!"

"Amen!" said Frau Helena in a hollow voice, in which was no hope
whatever.

Thereupon her visitor left her. As soon as she was alone she sank down
on her knees in the place where she had been standing, and waves of
anguish closed over her mother's heart.

* * * * *

It was already getting dusk, when her daughter's voice speaking in the
garden to old Donate, roused the mourner from her