t? Have you never seen him since?
Did he not tell you about it?"

"No, my dearest Marie," sighed old Trude. "There is no word, no message
from him. I have been twenty times to the baker's in eight days, and
waited at the corner of the street, where we agreed to meet, but no
Moritz was there, and I have not been able to hear any thing about him."

"Something must have happened to him," sighed Marie. "He is very ill,
perhaps dying, and--"

"No, no, my child, he is not ill, I will tell you all about it, if you
will not worry. I have been to Herr Moritz's lodgings to-day. I could
not wait any longer, and--"

"Did you see him, and speak with him, Trude?"

"No Marie, he was not there; and the people in the house told me that he
had been gone for a week."

"Gone!" repeated Marie, thoughtfully. "What does it mean? What could
persuade him to abandon me in this hour of need? Tell me, Trude, what do
you think? Console me if you can. You really know nothing further than
that he is gone?"

"A little bit more, but not much, my heart's child. When the people told
me that he had disappeared eight days ago, it seemed as if one of the
Alps had fallen on my heart, and my limbs trembled so I could go no
farther, and I was obliged to sit down upon the stairs and cry bitterly,
picturing all sorts of dreadful things to myself."

"Dreadful things?" asked Marie. "Oh, Trude, you do not believe that my
good, brave Moritz could do any thing sinful and cowardly, like wicked
men? You do not think that my beloved--oh, no, no--I know that he is
more noble; he will bear the burden of life as I will, so long as it
pleases God."

The old woman hung down her head, and humbly folded her hands. "Forgive
me, my child, that I have such weak and sinful thoughts. I will
apologize for them in my heart to you and your beloved so long as I
live. After I had cried enough, I determined to go to the Gray Cloister,
and beg the director to see me!"

"Did you see him to speak with him, dear good Trude?"

"Yes, dear child. I told him I was an aged aunt of Herr Moritz, who had
come to Berlin to visit him; and finding that he was absent, I would
like to know where he had gone, and, how long he would remain away."

"Oh, Trude, how clever you are, and how kindly you think of every
thing!" cried Marie, embracing her old nurse, and kissing affectionately
her sunburnt, wrinkled cheek. "What did he say?"

"He told me that Herr Moritz had begged permission to be a