ded his left hand to Eleanore,
and then, hesitating at first, he gave Gertrude his right hand with a
most decisive gesture.

Eleanore straightened up, took the mask of Zingarella, and held it up
before her face. "Little Brother," she cried out in a teasing tone. The
pale, sweet stone face was wonderful to behold, as it was raised above
the body that was pulsing with life.

And Gertrude--for one second she hung on Daniel's gaze, a sigh as deep
as the murmuring of the sea sounded in her bosom, and then she lay in
his arms. He kissed her without saying a word. His face was gloomy, his
brow wrinkled.

"Little Brother" sounded out from behind the mask. But there was no
banter in the expression; it was much more like a complaint, a
revelation of anguish: "Little Brother!"

IV

Daniel had left the city long ago. Eleanore chanced to meet Herr
Carovius. He forced her to stop, conducted himself in such a familiar
way, and talked in such a loud voice that the passersby simpered. He
asked all about the young master, meaning Daniel.

He told her that "the good Eberhard"--it was his way of referring to
Baron von Auffenberg--had gone to Munich for a few months, and was
taking up with spiritists and theosophists.

"It is his way of having a fling," said Herr Carovius, grinning from ear
to ear. "In former times, when young noblemen wished to complete their
education and have a little lark at the same time, they made the grand
tour over Europe. Now-a-days they become penny-a-liners, or they go in
for table-tipping. Humanity is on the decline, my charming little girl.
To study the flower of the nation at close range is no longer an
edifying occupation. It is rotten, as rotten, I tell you, as last
winter's apples. There is consequently no greater pleasure than to make
such a young chap dance. You play, he dances; you whistle, he retrieves.
It is a real treat!"

He laughed hysterically, and then had a coughing spell. He coughed so
violently that the black cord suspended from his nose-glasses became
tangled about a button on his great coat, and his glasses fell from his
nose. In his awkwardness, intensified by his short-sightedness, he
fumbled the button and the cord with his bony fingers until Eleanore
came to the rescue. One move, and everything was again in order.

Herr Carovius was struck dumb with surprise. He would never have
imagined that a young girl could be so natural and unembarrassed