while?" Then Linda followed her aunt to Madame
Staubach's own chamber, and as she went there came over her a guilty
fear. Could it be that her aunt had heard of the words which the
young man had spoken to her?

"Linda," said Madame Staubach, "sit down,--there, in my chair. I
have a proposition to make to you of much importance,--of very great
importance. May the Lord grant that the thing that I do shall be
right in His sight!"

"To make to me, aunt?" said Linda, now quite astray as to her aunt's
intention. She was sure, at least, that there was no danger about the
young man. Had it been her aunt's purpose to rebuke her for aught
that she had done, her aunt's manner and look would have been very
different,--would have been hard, severe, and full of denunciation.
As it was, Madame Staubach almost hesitated in her words, and
certainly had assumed much less than her accustomed austerity.

"I hope, Linda, that you know that I love you."

"I am sure that you love me, aunt Charlotte. But why do you ask me?"

"If there be any one in this world that I do love, it is you, my
child. Who else is there left to me? Were it not for you, the world
with all its troubles would be nothing to me, and I could prepare
myself to go in peace when He should be pleased to take me."

"But why do you say this now, aunt Charlotte?"

"I will tell you why I say it now. Though I am hardly an old woman
yet--"

"Of course you are not an old woman."

"I wish I were older, that I might be nearer to my rest. But you are
young, and it is necessary that your future life should be regarded.
Whether I go hence or remain here it will be proper that some
settlement should be made for you." Then Madame Staubach paused, and
Linda began to think that her aunt had on her mind some scheme about
the house. When her aunt had spoken of going hence or remaining here,
Linda had not been quite sure whether the goings and remainings
spoken of were wholly spiritual or whether there was any reference to
things worldly and temporal. Could it be that Tetchen was after all
right in her surmise? Was it possible that her aunt was about to be
married to Peter Steinmarc? But she said nothing; and after a while
her aunt went on very slowly with her proposition. "Yes, Linda, some
settlement for your future life should be made. You know that the
house in which we live is your own."

"It is yours and mine together, aunt."

"No, Linda; the house is your own. And the furnitu