in earnest. Linden might still marry a quiet,
sensible woman of mature years, but a young girl who might be his
daughter--he must have lost his senses."

"Madame, that is still far from being manifest to me, marriage often has
a rejuvenating influence."

"Marriage with a girl like Kaethe Markwald? If I were Linden, I should
fear eyes like hers. She belongs to the species of sleeping monsters.
Woe betide the man who wakes and is not strong enough to conquer them."

Thiel could not help smiling. "I repeat, marriage often works marvels of
resurrection. And in the worst case--the matter need not yet be taken
tragically."

Frau von der Lehde could not console herself for the final loss of
Linden, but she understood that she could do nothing more to hold him or
to win him back. In the first place because he could not be reached.
Contrary to universal expectation, he soon tore himself away from his
charming fiancee and set off on his summer travels much earlier than in
former years. He extended them full three months, which he spent at
various sea-shore watering-places. He was sometimes seen here, sometimes
there, first at Raegen, then at Sylt, lastly at Heligoland, where the surf
is most powerful. The marriage took place early in September. Every one
admired the bridal pair. Kaethe was fresh and blooming as a newly opened
Marshal Niel rose, Robert as handsome and elegant as in his best days.
The difference in age was scarcely apparent. Only a close observer could
have noticed a certain nervous anxiety in Robert's face which, though
bronzed by the sun and the salt air of the sea-shore, was visibly pale.
He did not look as happy by the side of his radiant bride as might have
been expected. Stings of conscience, said many women who had once been
on familiar terms with him and had now had the self-control to come to
the church, which was crowded to suffocation. Frau von der Lehde was not
among them.

Robert von Linden now realized the dream of the last few months; he took
his bewitching young wife, his proudest and, as he faithfully resolved,
his last conquest, to Italy. But, according to all that was learned
afterward, it was a strange wedding journey. The couple appeared in all
the larger cities of Upper, Middle and Lower Italy, but the newly-wedded
pair seemed unable to remain anywhere more than two or three days. The
bride looked depressed and dissatisfied, the bridegroom haggard and
unhappy. About thr