full view of her, when
he suddenly stood still with open mouth and staring eyes, and no sooner
had he heard her voice, than he cried out at once, "That is Agatha, or
the Devil!"

"What ails you now, brother?" cried Christopher in alarm; and Bona
anxiously asked the gardener whether the young man had not sometimes
paroxysms of madness.

"No; it cannot be she, however;" stammered Francis, retreating in
confusion. "The rich clothes, the cheerful countenance--no, that cannot
be the pale, haggard spectre that tormented me so cruelly in the
Hildebrand--and now, too, the beautiful long auburn locks with the
auburn eye-brows!--Agatha had dark brown hair. Pardon me, noble lady,
my mistake and rudeness; your great likeness to a girl, whom I knew
only too well, had deceived me."

"Sir," replied Bona proudly, "you must yourself allow that this
assimilation to some old flame of yours cannot be particularly
flattering to me. To spare myself any farther such unpleasantnesses,
nothing remains for me but to withdraw, and leave it to your own
reflection whether it became you to insult an unblemished female, who
sought the hospitality of your father's town."

She walked away with great dignity.

"God confound you!" cried Christopher to his brother. "This is now the
second time that your madness has come between me and my object, when I
was trying to weave a love affair. Had it not been for your senseless
fray with Rasselwitz, I should have had leisure and opportunity to win
the widow. It was your fault alone that the banquet was put off, from
which I had promised myself so much. The refusal too, which the silly
woman gave me in the end, I owe to the fear of your relationship. No
one would willingly have any thing to do with you, for wherever you
come you make mischief, and that not merely from natural awkwardness,
but from evil intentions. If, therefore, you frighten away my bird this
time, I shall believe you do it on purpose, and have good reasons of
your own for preventing my second marriage; in which case I shall speak
a word in earnest with our father, and you will gain nothing by your
tricks."

Thus scolding and grumbling, he went off, and the gardener went with
him. Francis, however, had not listened to his lecture, but remained
there gloomily, and with the sheath of his sword beheaded the valuable
foreign plants that stood in their clay vases, in rows, upon a range of
steps. At last he cried, "I was mistaken; but the like