smiling
and striking his glass with his fork (two things which he seldom did at
all, though he always did them together) to say, "Your Amandus has got
to be, and cannot help being, where and what he is. He is, in fact, a
gerund; and I shall merely tell you, my dear Aennchen, that I drew up
his horoscope a long while ago. His constellation is favourable enough
on the whole, for the matter of that. He has Jupiter in the ascending
node, Venus regarding in the sextile. The trouble is, that the path of
Sirius cuts across, and, just at the point of intersection, there
is a great danger from which Amandus delivers his betrothed. The
danger--what it is--is indiscoverable, because some strange being,
which appears to set at defiance all astrological science, seems to be
concerned in it. At the same time, it is evident and certain that it is
only the strange psychical condition which mankind terms craziness, or
mental derangement, which will enable Amandus to accomplish this
deliverance. Oh, my daughter!" (here Herr Dapsul fell again into his
usual pathetic tone), "may no mysterious power, which keeps itself
hidden from my seer-eyes, come suddenly across your path, so that young
Amandus von Nebelstern may not have to rescue you from any other danger
but that of being an old maid." He sighed several times consecutively,
and then continued, "But the path of Sirius breaks off abruptly after
this danger, and Venus and Jupiter, divided before, come together
again, reconciled."

Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau had not spoken so much for years as on this
occasion. He arose exhausted, and went back up into his tower.

Aennchen had her answer to Herr von Nebelstern ready in good time next
morning. It was as follows:--

"MY OWN DEAREST AMANDUS--

"You cannot believe what joy your letter has given me. I have told papa
about it, and he has promised to go to church with us when we're
married. Be sure to come back from the university as soon as ever you
can. Oh! if I only could _quite_ understand your darling verses, which
rhyme so beautifully. When I read them to myself aloud they sound
wonderful, and _then_ I think I _do_ understand them quite well. But
soon everything grows confused, and seems to get away from me, and I
feel as if I had been reading a lot of mere words that somehow don't
belong to each other at all. The schoolmaster says this must be so, and
that it's the new fashionable way of speaking. But, you see, I'm--oh,
well!--I'm onl