st, and grasped his hand. He carried her into the
next room, and after laying her down on the bed, he hurried back to get
a fresh light.

Lenz fortunately had an ample store of purified turpentine oil in the
house, by which he usually worked at night. The raven, in the kitchen,
had broken the large can, and an insupportable smell of rosin
penetrated into the room, when the door was opened. Lenz lighted the
lamp with the brandy, and the three miserable prisoners looked still
more deplorable, by the blue flickering light.

Petrowitsch laid the child on the bed; her feet were as cold as ice. He
ordered Bueble to lie down on the child's feet, which Bueble instantly
did. Then Petrowitsch took Lenz by the arm, and led him back into the
sitting room, the door of the adjacent room remaining open.

The raven and the cat were again at war in the kitchen, but they let
them fight it out, till they were quiet of their own accord.

"Have you anything fit to eat?" asked Petrowitsch; "it is past five
o'clock, and I am wofully hungry."

There was enough to eat, as a ham had fallen from the loft down the
chimney; there was also bread, and a large sack of dried fruit.

Petrowitsch ate with a good appetite, and pressed Lenz to eat also, but
he could not bring himself to swallow a morsel. He was anxiously
listening to every sound in Annele's room. The child was talking in its
sleep; a kind of confused muttering, as if from another world, and it
was startling to hear it laugh--still sound asleep. Annele lay quiet,
breathing softly. Lenz went in to take up the child, and called out in
terror, for he had seized Bueble by mistake, who bit at him fiercely.
Annele was roused by the cry, and calling Lenz and Petrowitsch to come
to her, she said:--

"I thank God that I still live, if only for one hour longer. I ask
forgiveness from all, but more especially from you, my Lenz."

"Don't try to speak much at present," interrupted he. "Will you not be
persuaded to take something? I have found some coffee, but not the
coffee mill. I will bruise it if the child is awake. There is some good
ham here besides."

"I cannot eat. Let me speak. What has happened? Why did you give such a
cry, Lenz?"

"It was nothing. I wished to take the child, and Bueble snapped
viciously at me, and in the terror of the moment, and the anguish of
our position, I felt as if some monster, I knew not what, was about to
devour us all."

"Alas!" said Annele, "your distr