hole year long till one morning he saw her betrothal in the
paper. She married a banker who had often served as the butt of her
ridicule. But--he had a million!

Ah, how gladly had he gone out of her neighborhood, how rejoiced he had
been to turn his back on the great world, with what happiness he had
written to his mother and what had he found!

But no matter! The steward whom he had for the present seemed a capable
fellow; he would not spare himself in any respect and then--Wolff. He
could not understand what had set Weishaupt so against the man.

He had now been wandering for some time through the busiest streets of
the town. He asked for the hotel where his coachman was to wait for
him. He now entered the marketplace in the midst of which the statue of
Roland stands. A stately Rathhaus in the style of the Renaissance stood
on the western side of the square, and lofty elegant patrician houses
with pointed gables surrounded it; some adorned with bow-windows, some
with the upper stories overhanging till it seemed as if they must lose
their balance. Only two or three buildings were of later date, and even
in these care had been taken to preserve the mediaeval character.

Agreeably surprised, Linden stopped and his glance passed critically
over the front of the lofty building before which he had chanced to
pause. Three tall stories towered one above another; over the great
arched doorway rose a dainty bow-window which extended through all the
stories and stretched up into the blue October sky as a stately tower,
finished at the top with a weather-vane. The window in the _bel-etage_
was divided into small diamond panes--that was an "aesthetic" dwelling,
no doubt. In the second story rich lace curtains shimmered behind large
clear panes, and a very garden of fuchsias and pinks waved and nodded
from the plants outside. If a lovely girl's face would only appear
above them now, the picture would be complete.

But nothing of the kind was to be seen, and casting one more glance at
the artistic ironwork of the staircase, the attentive spectator turned
and crossed the market-place to the hotel in order to dine. As it was
already late he was the only guest in the spacious dining-room. He ate
his dinner with all speed, and began his wanderings through the streets
again.

Behind the Rathhaus he plunged into a labyrinth of narrow streets and
alleys, then passing through an archway he entered unexpectedly a
square surrounded by