carriage rolling over the silent, deserted highway,
two tears fell from his eyes, and his starry wings were wider outspread
to rush more quickly past.

"Look, my dear Marie, two stars just fell from heaven. They are a
greeting to you, loved one, and they would say they guide us on our
way."

"Oh, Philip, it is a sign of ill-luck! Falling stars betoken
misfortune!"

She clung closer to his side, and laid her head upon his shoulder.
He pressed her more lovingly to his heart. "Do not fear, dear Marie;
separation only could cause us unhappiness--we have long borne it, and
now it is forever past. You have given yourself to me for my own, and I
am yours, heart and soul; we speed on through the night to the morning
of the bright, sunny future, never more to be parted."

"Never!" she fervently murmured. "Oh, may God hear our prayer. Never,
never to part! Yet, while the word falls from my lips, a shudder creeps
through my soul."

"Wherefore this despair, dearest? Reflect, no one will be apprised of
our flight till early morning, and then they will not know whither we
have fled. Meanwhile we rush on to Hamburg, where a packet-ship sails
every Wednesday for England; arriving there, we will first go to
Suffolk, to my old friend the vicar of Tunningham. I was his guest many
weeks last year, and he often related to me the privilege which had
been conferred on the parish church for a long time to perform valid
marriages for those to whose union there were obstacles interposed
elsewhere. He will bless the union of our love, and will accord me the
lawful right to call you my own before God and man. We will not return
at once to Germany. I have many connections and literary friends in
London, who will assist me to worthy occupation. Besides, I closed an
agreement some weeks since with the publisher Nicolai in Berlin for a
new work. I will write it in London; it will be none the less favored
coming from a distance."

"My flowers and paintings will also be as well received in as in
Berlin," added Marie, smilingly.

"No, Marie, you shall not work. I shall have the precious care of
providing for you, which will be my pride and happiness. Oh, my beloved,
what a crowning bliss to possess a sweet, dear wife, who is only rich
in imperishable treasures, and poor in external riches! What delight
to toil for her, and feel that there lives in my intellect the power to
grant her every wish, and to compensate her in the slightest degree the