ime
he felt himself entangled in a net formed by the smooth stems of the
water plants which swayed up from the bottom and wound themselves
round his naked limbs.

The unfamiliar water was black all round about him, and behind him he
heard the sound of a fish leaping. Suddenly such an uncanny feeling
overpowered him in the midst of this strange element that with might
and main he tore asunder the network of plants and swam back to land
in breathless haste. And when from the shore he looked back upon the
lake, there floated the lily on the bosom of the darkling water as far
away and as lonely as before.

He dressed and slowly wended his way home. As he passed out of the
garden into the room he discovered Eric and the mother busied with
preparations for a short journey which had to be undertaken for
business purposes on the morrow.

"Where ever have you been so late in the dark?" the mother called out
to him.

"I?" he answered, "oh, I wanted to pay a call on the water-lily, but I
failed."

"That's beyond the comprehension of any man," said Eric. "What on
earth had you to do with the water-lily?"

"Oh, I used to be friends with the lily once," said Reinhard; "but
that was long ago."

* * * * *

ELISABETH

The following afternoon Reinhard and Elisabeth went for a walk on the
farther side of the lake, strolling at times through the woodland, at
other times along the shore where it jutted out into the water.
Elisabeth had received injunctions from Eric, during the absence of
himself and her mother to show Reinhard the prettiest views in the
immediate neighbourhood, particularly the view toward the farm itself
from the other side of the lake. So now they proceeded from one point
to another.

At last Elisabeth got tired and sat down in the shade of some
overhanging branches. Reinhard stood opposite to her, leaning against
a tree trunk; and as he heard the cuckoo calling farther back in the
woods, it suddenly struck him that all this had happened once before.
He looked at her and with an odd smile asked:

"Shall we look for strawberries?"

"It isn't strawberry time," she said.

"No, but it will soon be here."

Elisabeth shook her head in silence; then she rose and the two
strolled on together. And as they wandered side by side, his eyes ever
and again were bent toward her; for she walked gracefully and her step
was light. He often unconsciously fell back a pace in orde