all die
of anxiety unless I do, and who knows but what I can be of good service
to you. The poor child, and among strange people too, may be made sick
by the fright and the cold drive--"

Felix quieted her as well as he could, and his firm, determined bearing
had so good an effect that Rosenbusch also promised to keep perfectly
quiet until their return, and not alarm either Julie or Angelica by
saying anything about the matter. Then Felix pushed his friend, who
submitted to his guidance like a child, out of the room, stopped a
moment on the stairs to write a word of excuse to Irene, who was
expecting him that evening, and then, getting into the drosky, he
ordered the driver to drive as fast as possible. Half an hour later the
two friends, mounted on fast horses, were spurring along the highroad
that runs from the Sendling gate across the broad Isar plain into the
mountains beyond.

CHAPTER IX.

The mist of evening hung over the still country. The heavy snow-clouds,
piled into huge heaps by the winds, drifted slowly across the dreary
sky, now and then letting fall a stray flake. To the right and left of
the road, whose deep ruts were filled with a half-frozen slush, the
trees stretched up to heaven their black and dripping branches, on
which even the crows refused to alight.

In this dismal wintry desert, where, far and wide, no human being could
be seen, where no dog barked at the horses, the words seemed to freeze
on the lips of the two horsemen. Jansen had informed Felix only of
those facts which were positively essential to a knowledge of the case;
of his determination to make an end of the affair, and his belief that
the abduction of the child was either to be used as a means of
extorting some concessions from him, or else that it was a mere trick
on the part of the mother to let him feel her power, and to present
herself to the world in the character of an abused wife, who sought by
this desperate deed to recover a right of which she had long been
deprived.

Felix had but little to say in reply.

"Perhaps it is better, after all, that the matter should be brought to
a crisis," he thought to himself. "Who knows how long it would have
dragged on if he had always been obliged to negotiate from a distance.
If he only keeps cool and puts forth all his energy, he will probably
effect more now, when it is likely that her conscience troubles her in
regard to the farce of yester