and preferring
to lose his kreutzers to seeing a ghost.

Poor Amy's bewilderment and alarm increased with every moment's delay,
and hoping to come out somewhere, she ran on till a misstep jostled
the candle from her hand and extinguished it.

Left in the dark, her courage deserted her, and she screamed
desperately, like a lost child, and was fast getting into a state of
frantic terror, when the sound of an approaching step reassured her.

Holding her breath, she heard a quick tread drawing nearer, as if
guided by her cries, and, straining her eyes, she caught the outline
of a man's figure in the gloom.

A sensation of intense joy rushed over her, and she was about to
spring forward, when she remembered that as she could speak no German
how could she explain her plight to the stranger, if he understood
neither French nor English?

Fear took possession of her at the thought of meeting some rough
peasant, or some rollicking student, to whom she could make no
intelligible appeal or explanation.

Crouching close against the wall, she stood mute till the figure was
very near. She was in the shadow of an angle, and the man paused, as
if looking for the person who called for help.

"Who is lost here?" said a clear voice, in German.

Amy shrunk closer to the wall, fearing to speak, for the voice was
that of a young man, and a low laugh followed the words, as if the
speaker found the situation amusing.

"Mortal, ghost or devil, I'll find it," exclaimed the voice, and
stepping forward, a hand groped for and found her.

"Lottchen, is it thou? Little rogue, thou shalt pay dearly for leading
me such a chase."

As he spoke he drew the girl toward him, but with a faint cry, a vain
effort to escape, Amy's terror reached its climax, and spent with
fatigue and excitement, she lost consciousness.

"Who the deuce is it, then? Lottchen never faints on a frolic. Some
poor little girl lost in earnest. I must get her out of this gloomy
place at once, and find her party afterward."

Lifting the slight figure in his arms, the young man hurried on, and
soon came out through a shattered gateway into the shrubbery which
surrounds the base of the castle.

Laying her on the grass, he gently chafed her hands, eying the pale,
pretty face meantime with the utmost solicitude.

At his first glimpse of it he had started, smiled and made a gesture
of pleasure and surprise, then gave himself entirely to the task of
recovering the poor gir