y caught hold of some branches to keep himself from
falling, pricking his hands with the thorns, and breaking a slender
bough, finally rolling in company with dust and earth, torn-out bushes
and stone, down a steep declivity of several feet to a little grass
plot at the bottom. He heard a slight scream near him, and a girlish
form sprang up and cried in an anxious voice:

"Have you hurt yourself?"

Wilhelm picked himself up as quickly as he could, brushed the earth
from his clothes, and taking off his cap said, "Thanks, not much. Only
a piece of awkwardness. But I am afraid I have frightened you?" he
added.

"A little bit; but that is all right."

They looked at each other for the first time, and the lady laughed,
while Wilhelm blushed deeply. She stopped again directly, blushed also,
and dropped her eyes. She was a girl in the first bloom of youth, of
particularly fine and well-made figure, with a beautiful face; two
dimples in her cheeks giving her a roguish expression, and a pair of
lively brown eyes. A healthy color was in her cheeks, and in the
well-cut, seductive little mouth. Her luxuriant, golden-brown hair, in
the fashion of the day, was brushed back in long curls. She had as her
only ornament a pale gold band in her hair, and wore a simple dress of
light-flowered material, the high waistband fitting close to the
girlish figure. Conventionality began to assert its rights over nature,
and the girl too felt confused at finding herself in the middle of a
conversation with a strange man, suddenly shot down at her very feet.
Wilhelm understood and shared her embarrassment, and bowing, he said:

"As no doubt we are at the same house, allow me to introduce myself. My
name is Wilhelm Eynhardt. I come from Berlin, and took up my abode an
hour ago at the Schloss hotel."

"From Berlin," said the girl quickly; "then we are neighbors. That is
very nice. And where do you live in Berlin, if I may ask?"

"In Dorotheenstrasse."

"Of course you do," and a clear laugh deepened the shadow of her
dimples.

"Why 'of course?'" asked Wilhelm, rather surprised.

"Why, because that is our Latin quarter, and as a student--you are a
student, I suppose?"

"Yes, and no. In the German sense I am no longer a student, for I took
my degree a year ago; but the word in English is better and truer, as
there 'student' is used where we should say scholar (gelehrter).
Scholars we are, not only learners. In the English sense then I am a