mine sister the money to take the long journey,
and for many years keep her from her Germany and her friends, then after
one night say to her: 'Fredrika, I have found mine old sweetheart and I
no longer want you.'

"Mine Fredrika has never known of mine sorrow, and I cannot to-day give
her the news. It is not for me to make mine sister's heart to ache as
mine has ached all these years, nor could I give her the money to go
back to her Germany because I no longer want her, when she has given it
all up for me. It would be most unkind.

"But now, see what the dear God has done for us! When it is all worked
out, and we come to the end, we see that you, also, share. I know, mine
friend, I know what it has been for you, because I, too, have been
through the deep waters, and now we come to the land together. It is
most fitting, because we are friends.

"Moreover, you are to her as she is to you. She has not told me, but
mine old eyes are sharp and I see. I tell you this to put the courage
into your heart. If you make mine sister happy, it is all I shall ask.
Go, now, to mine Fredrika, and tell her I will not be back until late
this evening! Is it not most beautiful?"

Limp, helpless, and sorely shaken, but without the faintest idea of
protesting, Doctor Brinkerhoff found himself started up the hill. The
Master stood at the foot, waving his hat in boyish fashion and shouting
messages of good-will. At last, when he dared to look back, the Doctor
saw that the way was clear, and he sat down upon a boulder by the
roadside to think.

He would be ungenerous, indeed, he thought, if he could not make some
sacrifice for Franz and for Mrs. Irving. Unwillingly, he had come into
possession of Fraeulein Fredrika's closely guarded secret, and, as he
repeatedly told himself, he was a man of honour. Moreover, he was not
one of those restless spirits who forever question Life for its meaning.
Clearly, there was no other way than the one which was plainly laid
before him.

But a few more years remained to him, he reflected, for he was twenty
years older than the Master; still life was very strange. Disloyalty to
the dead was impossible, for she never knew, and would have scorned him
if she had known. The end of the tangled web was in his hands--for three
people he could make it straight again.

The long shadows lay upon the hill and still he sat there, thinking. The
children played about him and asked meaningless questions, for the first