ue eyes, hands crossed on the breast
over a book of devotions, and tresses of fair long silky hair encircling
her sweet countenance with a glorious golden aureola. This picture struck
me by its wonderful resemblance to Odile of Nideck.

I have never seen anything more lovely and more charming than this old
painting on wood, which was stiff enough indeed in its outline, but
delightfully refreshing and ingenuous.

I had examined this picture attentively for some minutes when another
female portrait, hanging at its side, drew my attention reluctantly away.
Here was a woman of the true Visigoth type, with a wide low forehead,
yellowish eyes, prominent cheek-bones, red hair, and a nose hooked like
an eagle's beak.

That woman must have been an excellent match for Hugh, thought I, and
I began to consider the costume, which answered perfectly to the energy
displayed in the head, for the right hand rested upon a sword, and an
iron breastplate inclosed the figure.

I should have some difficulty in expressing the thoughts which passed
through my mind in the examination of these three portraits. My eye
passed from the one to the other with singular curiosity.

Sperver, standing at the library door, had aroused the attention of
Knapwurst with a sharp whistle, which made that worthy send a glance in
his direction, though it did not succeed in fetching him down from his
elevation.

"Is it me that you are whistling to like a dog?" said the dwarf.

"I am, you vermin! It is an honour you don't deserve."

"Just listen to me, Sperver," replied the little man with sublime scorn;
"you cannot spit so high as my shoe!" which he contemptuously held out.

"Suppose I were to come up?"

"If you come up a single step I'll squash you flat with this volume!"

Gideon laughed, and replied--

"Don't get angry, friend; I don't mean to do you any harm; on the
contrary, I greatly respect you for your learning; but what I want to
know is what you are doing here so early in the morning, by lamplight?
You look as if you had spent the night here."

"So I have; I have been reading all night."

"Are not the days long enough for you to read in?"

"No; I am following out an important inquiry, and I don't mean to sleep
until I am satisfied."

"Indeed; and what may this very important question be?"

"I have to ascertain under what circumstances Ludwig of Nideck discovered
my ancestor, Otto the Dwarf, in the forests of Thuringia. You know,
Sperv