therto had reflected only the sky in its silent
pools. Dams were thrown up, trenches dug, a dwelling house was raised
on piles, numbers of business offices, and quite a village for workmen,
all mounted and secure on piles of wood, stakes, and stone foundations.
Flatboats floated on the pools, the houses were roofed in, windmills
flapped their sails, and Paul, who had ordered and built everything,
came every day to see how the workmen were getting on. In the autumn he
took Malvine for the first time to Harburg, and leaving the carriage at
the office brought her by boat to the border of the Friesenmoor, to
show her the picture all at once. The men stood on each side of the new
house with their shovels and pickaxes, and greeted the young wife with
such a hearty cheer that her eyes filled with tears. The broad flat
surface of the marsh was now arranged in regular lines where the water
was being drawn off, all so well superintended and orderly, that
Malvine could not help thinking of a chessboard. The windmill moved its
long restless arms, as if to welcome her as mistress here; the
one-storied dwelling house, raised on stone steps, lay there hospitably
built on a raised terrace, with its number of large well-lighted rooms
opening a vista of peace and happiness to Malvine, and she thought it
all so delightful that she would have liked to send for her furniture
from Hamburg and stay there. Paul, however, reflected what danger there
might be to her in her condition to stay through the winter in a house
not yet dry, and so she gave in to his wishes.

At the end of March a telegram from Hamburg announced the birth of a
fine boy, to whom Wilhelm was to stand godfather. He was to be named
Paul Wilhelm, and to be known by the latter name. When the warm weather
came, Paul and his family were to go to the moor, and during the
removal Malvine went with her mother and grandmother, who had both
nursed her tenderly, to Berlin for a visit. Paul went through a great
deal of worry and anxiety this summer. He had everything at stake in
waiting for the results of his undertaking. All his money was in the
buildings, the earth-works, and waterworks; if the barren swamp did not
yield twice the sum intrusted to it he was a ruined man. But as July
drew near, and Paul looked at the thick standing ears of barley and
wheat, he felt the weight of his anxiety lifted, and in August he
proclaimed in letters to his friends that the battle was won, the
harv