ith characteristic good feeling, declined
the invitation to be present.

Frau Brohl arranged for the wedding to take place after Whitsuntide. At
the Zwolf-Apostelkirche she wore her heavy silk dress and all the
family ornaments, as on the Sundays at church at Stettin. Her bent
figure was straighter than usual, and a smile of proud satisfaction
lighted up her pale, melancholy face. Several rich friends from Stettin
had come over to Berlin for the wedding. She leaned on the arm of the
bridegroom's father, Herr Haber, a dignified old gentleman with a long
beard. Paul wore his uniform and a Japanese order, which had been
conferred on him by a Japanese pupil at his lectures on agricultural
chemistry. Several officers in uniform were in the church, and a large
number of professors, councilors, etc. Paul's round face beamed with
happiness, his blond mustache looked triumphant, his hair was
mathematically cut, and a field-marshal might have sworn that he was a
regular officer. The bride was rosy, and looked happy. Her veil and
wreath were made by the family, and her satin dress covered with their
embroidery. Wilhelm was one of Paul's witnesses. When he went to
congratulate the happy pair after the ceremony, Malvine looked at him;
a gentle glance, with perhaps a mild reproach in it. Paul, however,
grasped his hand, and whispered into his ear:

"Your friend for life, Wilhelm, for life."

CHAPTER VII.

SYMPOSIUM.

Paul had hardly returned from his wedding trip to Paris when he
surprised his friends by a series of quite unexpected business
engagements. He gave up his post as lecturer, in spite of the fact that
the appointment as professor for the next six months depended on it; he
left his young wife for three weeks, during which nothing was heard of
him, except an occasional letter bearing the postmarks of Hamburg,
Altona, or Harburg, then he appeared again, and told Malvine that they
were to remove from Berlin, to spend in future a portion of the year in
Hamburg, but to live chiefly on some property near Harburg. He had
decided to leave his academic profession and become a practical
landowner, and accordingly had taken a large leasehold estate. He gave
Wilhelm and Schrotter further particulars of his plans. The place he
had bought was hardly to be called an estate, but a wild desert bit of
moorland called "Friesenmoor," growing only a kind of marsh grass. This
piece of land, from which nothing but peat could be obta