row myself at your feet,
whether you would forgive me or no, when I met him in the next town.
Do not be too much shockt ... Herr Balthasar is no more ... he died
suddenly in a fit, without having made a will, as the stranger said he
knew for certain. The house, the little town, the whole neighbourhood
are in the utmost confusion. O my mother, we may all be happy, we may
all live affectionately together, if you will believe in my repentance
and reformation, if we can persuade my father to assent to the plan I
have to propose to him. I know you will now no longer refuse your
consent to my marriage with Caroline: the objection that we were both
of us so poor, is now done away: we are become too rich, far too much
so, to trust ourselves with all this wealth."

When their spirits were grown calm, and every thing had been
explained, a servant was sent after the counsellor, who came home in a
more serious and susceptible mood than was his wont. How great was his
astonishment at having to embrace his lost son, reformed and become a
reasonable being! He was quite unprepared for so joyful a shock. His
wife too received him with more confidence and affection: the death of
the beloved of her youth had affected her deeply.

Thus for the first time this family was united and happy, and amid
their sorrow felt a pure joy in the prospect of a comfortable and
prosperous future. The old man, who resolved to amend after the
example of his son, and to pass the remainder of his life more
decorously, agreed, even without any persuasion, to make over the
uncontrouled management of the property legally to his son, who was
now of age. It was settled that the mother and son should go first to
their new estate, to arrange every thing, and that Caroline should
follow soon after, and become his bride: the counsellor himself
preferred living still in his native town, and merely visiting his
family occasionally in the summer.

"Thus," he concluded, "we may still restore a household that was
almost lost, and raise it above what it ever was by mutual affection
and unity. My annuity is more than enough to support me; and should it
fall short, as I think can hardly happen, my son will assist me with a
small contribution."

* * * * *

Up in the mountains everything was now quiet. Balthasar, as well as
his treacherous old friend, was in his grave. William, as he had
formerly been called, arrived there with his mother to