the objections she made that Anna, who did her
best to keep an open mind and listen attentively to advice, was forced
to agree with her, and added letters to the ever-increasing heap of the
rejected which she might otherwise have reserved for riper
consideration. After two or three days, however, it became clear to her
that if she continued to consult the princess, no one would be accepted
at all, for Manske's respect for that lady was so profound that he was
invariably of her opinion. She did not, therefore, invite her again to
assist at the interviews. Still, all she had said, and the knowledge
that she must know her own countrywomen fairly thoroughly, made Anna
prudent; and so it came about that the first arrivals were to be only
three in number, chosen without reference to the princess, and one of
them was _buergerlich_.

"We can meanwhile proceed with our inquiries about the remaining nine,"
said Manske, "and the gracious Miss will be always gaining experience."

She trod on air during the days preceding the arrival of the chosen. To
say that she was blissful would be but an inadequate description of her
state of mind. The weather was beautiful, and it increased her happiness
tenfold to know that their new life was to begin in sunshine. She had
never a doubt as to their delight in the sun-chequered forest, in the
freshness of the glittering sea, in the peacefulness of the quiet
country life, so quiet that the week seemed to be all Sundays. Were not
these things sufficient for herself? Did she ever tire of those long
pine vistas, with the narrow strip of clearest blue between the gently
waving tree-tops? The dreamy murmur of the forest gave her an exquisite
pleasure. To see the bloom on the pink and grey trunks of the pines, and
the sun on the moss and lichen beneath, was so deep a satisfaction to
her soul that the thought that others who had been knocked about by life
would not feel it too, would not enter with profoundest thankfulness
into this other world of peace, never struck her at all. When these poor
tired women, freed at last from every care and every anxiety, had
refreshed themselves with the music and fragrance of the forest, there
was the garden across the road to enjoy, with the marsh already strewn
with kingcups on the other side of the hedge already turning green; and
the sea with the fishing-smacks passing up and down, and the silver
gleam of gulls' wings circling round the orange sails, and eagles