r presence was more than he could bear. It was an offense
to him, a challenge; and if ever he had wished to clear her out of his
path and the physician's--by force, if need should be--the idea wholly
possessed him now.

Irritated and provoked, he took leave of all the others, carefully
avoiding a glance even at Paula, though, after he rose, she went up to
him on purpose to say a few pleasant words, and to assure him how highly
she esteemed his adopted son.

Pulcheria escorted him through the garden and he promised her to return
on the morrow, or the day after, and then she must take care that he
found her and her mother alone, for he had no fancy to allow Paula to
thrust her pride and airs under his nose a second time.

He angrily rejected Pulcheria's attempts to take her friend's part, and
he trotted home again, mumbling curses between his old lips.

Martina, meanwhile, had made friends with Paula in her genial, frank
way. She had met her parents in time past in Constantinople and spoke of
them with heart-felt warmth. This broke the ice between them, and
when Martina spoke of Orion--her 'great Sesostris'--of the regard
and popularity he had enjoyed in Constantinople, and then, with due
recognition and sympathy, of his misfortune, Paula felt drawn towards
her indeed. Her reserve vanished entirely, and the conversation
between the new acquaintances became more and more eager, intimate, and
delightful.

When they parted both felt that they could only gain by further
intercourse. Paula was called away at the very moment of leave-taking,
and left the room with warm expressions intended only for the matron:
"Not good-bye--we must meet again. But of course it is my part, as
the younger, to go to you!" And she was no sooner gone than Martina
exclaimed:

"What a lovely creature! The worthy daughter of a noble father! And her
mother! O dame Joanna! A sweeter being has rarely graced this miserable
world; she was born to die young, she was only made to bloom and fade!"
Then, turning to Katharina, she went on: with kindly reproof. "Evil
tongues gave me a very false idea of this girl. 'A silver kernel in
a golden shell,' says the proverb, but in this case both alike are of
gold.--Between you two--good God!--But I know what has blinded your
clear eyes, poor little kitten. After all, we all see things as we
wish to see them. I would lay a wager, dame Joanna, that you are of my
opinion in thinking the fair Paula a perfectly nobl