is
hand, for at Wollmershain they had parted with a hearty hand-shake, and
now he ventured on the same privilege.

The girl laid her hand in his; it was so cold and clammy it chilled
him; and Carmen, as she leaned her head back against the stone wall,
had such a tired, weary, wretched look that he could not refrain from
asking with an anxious air: "For Heaven's sake! Surely some misfortune
has happened to you! Carmen, dear Fraulein Carmen, I implore you, tell
me just one word, that I may know what is the matter, and help you if I
can."

She had risen slowly and with difficulty, for her knees trembled, and
she could scarcely stand. He kept her hand in his as if to assist her,
and pressed it with gentle warmth. At the sound of his sympathizing
voice, the heavy pressure on her tortured heart suddenly gave way, and
agonized sobs burst from her lips, while a flood of scalding tears
flowed from her eyes. Her slender frame shook with the violence of her
emotion; and as he sought to support her with his arm, her head sank on
his shoulder.

"Dear Carmen," he pleaded, "do not keep back from me the cause of this
distress! You cannot know how I am racked with grief for you. What
shall I say to convince you of my feelings? It troubles me sorely, oh,
believe me, to find you in such sorrow."

His words seemed to increase the intensity of her grief; and yet how
those blinding tears relieved her! What an angel of light he
seemed--he, of whom she had once thought so differently! She did not
repulse him now when his arm encircled her; but leaning on him
confidingly, she somehow felt that he who held her was a true man; that
he alone was able to help and comfort her, and that it was a precious
privilege to have him near in this hour of need. She could not turn to
her father for succor; that one great hope had melted away; but in this
man she knew there was courage, as well as will and the power to assist
her in her woe. As he poured question after question upon her, she
attempted at last to speak.

"They have cast lots for me to-day," she stammered. "I am forced to be
the wife of a man I despise--by lot, Herr Trautenau!"

"By lot?" he asked, flushing angrily. "You, our beautiful, proud
Carmen, given away by lot? That is incredible! Your father will
surely not permit it!"

"My poor father!" she cried. "He can take no step to prevent it; he
cannot save me."

"But!--by heavens, I will not allow such a horrible thin