t in accordance with
his father's will. He had suspected nothing of this; and when he had
approached her as a suitor on his brother's behalf, shame and the
conviction that he himself did not love her had sealed her lips.

Now Apollonius realized with pain that he had been mistaken when he
believed that those dumb signs had been meant for him. He wondered that
he had not seen that he was in error at the time. Had not his brother
been as near to her as he when she laid down the flower which the wrong
man found? And when she had met him alone so intentionally
unintentionally--indeed, when he called to mind the moments that
dominated his dreams--she had sought his brother, that was why she had
been so startled to meet him, that was why she had fled every time as
soon as she had recognized him, as soon as she found him whom she was
not seeking. She did not talk to him, but she could joke for a quarter
of an hour at a time with his brother.

These thoughts characterized hours, days and weeks of pain that lay
deep within him, but his cousin's confidence which he had to reward by
living up to it, the healing effect of busy and purposeful work, the
manliness which both these things had already ripened in him, all held
their own in the struggle and came out of it strengthened.

A later letter which he received from his brother announced that old
Walther had discovered the inclination of the girl's heart and that he
and the old gentleman in the blue coat had decided that Apollonius'
brother should marry the girl. The old gentleman's "should" was a
"must;" Apollonius knew that as well as his brother. The girl's
affection had touched his brother; she was beautiful and good; should
he oppose his father's will for Apollonius' sake, for the sake of a
love that was without hope? Being certain of Apollonius' consent
beforehand, he had resigned himself to the decree of heaven.

Throughout the first half of the following letter, in which he
announced his marriage, this pious mood echoed. After many cordial
words of comfort came his brother's apology, or rather justification,
for having allowed two years to elapse between this letter and the
last one. Then followed a description of his domestic happiness; his
young wife who still clung to him with all the fire of her girlish
love, had borne him a girl and a boy. In the mean time his father had
been afflicted by an ailment of the eyes, and had grown constantly
less able to conduct the bu