his compositions.

"What is the good of recognition?" she asked. "They can take nothing
from you, and what they give you is clear gain."

He became silent. The feeling of her worth to him swept like a fiery
meteor through the heaven of his existence.

The statement that they were going to remain in Nuremberg made her
happy, particularly because of her father. She said there was a small
apartment for rent on AEgydius Place, three rooms, a very quiet
neighbourhood. They went over to the window; Gertrude showed him the
house. It was close to the church, right where the Place makes a turn.

Jordan came in, and welcomed Daniel with a long handshake. His hair had
become greyer, he walked with more of a stoop, and his clothes showed
traces of neglect.

When he heard what Daniel and Gertrude were planning to do, he shook his
head: "It is a bad year, children. Why are you in such a hurry? Both of
you are still young."

"If we were older, we would have less courage," replied Daniel.

Jordan took a seat, and buried his face in his hands. In course of time
he looked up, and said that three years ago he had only eight thousand
marks in the bank; that hard times had forced him to draw on this sum to
keep the house going; and that to-day there was hardly a third of it
left. Two thousand marks was all he could give Gertrude as a dowry; with
that they would have to be satisfied, and get along as well as they
could.

"We don't need any more," said Daniel; "as a matter of fact I did not
expect that much. Now I haven't a care in the world; I am ready for
anything."

A bat flew in at the open window, and then quietly flew out again. It
had stopped raining. You could still hear the water trickling and
splashing down the leaders and in the pipes. There was something heavy,
portentous, in the air of this June evening.

XIV

At first Daniel had received small bits of news from England about
Benda, but for a year and a half he had not heard a word. When Eleanore
returned from Pommersfelden in July, she told him that she had received
a letter from Benda in April, and that she had sent him this letter when
he was at Naumburg. Daniel, however, had never received it, and the
investigations which he made proved fruitless.

Benda's mother was not in the city; she was living with relatives in
Worms, but had kept her apartment at Herr Carovius's.

Frau von Auffenberg was at Bad Ems, and did not plan to