et, nor young; who, though she
was virtuous, self-denying, and meek, possessed certainly but few
feminine charms? Herr Steinmarc, though he was a man not by any means
living outside the pale of the Church to which he belonged, was not
so strongly given to religious observances as to have preferred the
aunt because of her piety and sanctity of life. He was not hypocrite
enough to suggest to Madame Staubach that any such feeling warmed his
bosom. Why should not Linda be his wife? He sat himself down again
in the arm-chair from which he had risen, and began to consider the
question.

In the first place, Herr Steinmarc was at this time nearly fifty
years old, and Linda Tressel was only twenty. He knew Linda's age
well, for he had been an inhabitant of the garret up-stairs when
Linda was born. What would the Frau Tressel have said that night had
any one prophesied to her that her little daughter would hereafter
be offered as a wife to her husband's penniless clerk upstairs? But
penniless clerks often live to fill their masters' shoes, and do
sometimes marry their masters' daughters. And then Linda was known
throughout Nuremberg to be the real owner of the house with the three
gables, and Herr Steinmarc had an idea that the Nuremberg magistrates
would rise up against him were he to offer to marry the young
heiress. And there was a third difficulty: Herr Steinmarc, though he
had no knowledge on the subject, though his suspicions were so slight
that he had never mentioned them to his old friend the widow, though
he was aware that he had barely a ground for the idea, still had
an idea, that Linda Tressel's heart was no longer at Linda's own
disposal.

But nevertheless the momentous question which had been so suddenly
asked him was one which certainly deserved the closest consideration.
It showed him, at any rate, that Linda's nearest friend would help
him were he inclined to prosecute such a suit, and that she saw
nothing out of course, nothing anomalous, in the proposition.
It would be very nice to be the husband of a pretty, gay,
sweet-tempered, joyous young girl. It would be very nice to marry the
heiress of the house, and to become its actual owner and master, and
it would be nice also to be preferred to him of whom Peter Steinmarc
had thought as the true possessor of Linda's heart. If Linda were
once his wife, Linda, he did not doubt, would be true to him. In such
case Linda, whom he knew to be a good girl, would overcom