the lady with evident
uneasiness to a chair in the entrance hall. "If you will give me
leave," he then said, "I will attend you into the parlour, and order
you some breakfast."

"Thank you for all your kindness," she cried: "the only thing I wish
for, is an interview with the master of the house. Is he up yet? In
what room shall I find him?"

"That none of us knows," answered Edward: "until he himself opens his
door, nobody ventures to go to him; and it is still shut. His wont
however is to rise early, and he says he sleeps but little. Whether he
employs these early solitary hours in reading, or in prayer and
devotion, no one can tell; so great is his reserve toward everybody.
But as to announcing you--even by and by--I know not: for we all have
the strictest orders, never to let in any stranger to him: he speaks
to no one, except his managers and servants on business at stated
hours; and from this rule during the twelve years that I have known
him he has not once departed. Strangers who have anything to request
of him must declare their wishes to me or to master Eleazar; and we
either settle the matter directly ourselves, or, if it does not lie
immediately in our power, we make a report to him on the subject,
without his ever setting eyes on the person. These whimsical rules, if
you choose so to call them, render his solitude unapproachable; and
that is the very thing he wishes."

"O God!" cried the lady with a tone of anguish: "and must this journey
then, this hard effort of mine, be all utterly in vain? For how could
I ever find words to express my wishes and requests to a perfect
stranger? O dear good Sir, your eye bespeaks and reveals the kindness
of your heart: for my sake, for the sake of a miserable, deeply
afflicted woman, make an exception this once to the strict custom of
the house, and tell your master that I am here."

At this moment they heard the sound of a large bell. "That is the
sign," said Edward, "that we may go and speak to him, and that his
room is open. I will say everything for you that you wish; but I know
beforehand it is to no purpose, and I shall bring down his anger on my
own head, without doing you any service."

He went dejectedly down the long passage: for it pained him that he
could not assist the lady whose noble form moved and interested him.
Old Balthasar was sitting in deep thought, his head leaning on his
arm, at his writing-table: he looked up cheerfully and kindly at
Edwar