. Seraphin."

"Your name is Johanna, is it not?"

"Mechtild, Mr. Seraphin."

"Will you be so good as to sit down?" And he pointed her to a sofa.

Mechtild, however, drew a chair and seated herself.

He had noted her deportment, and could not but marvel at the graceful
action, the confiding simplicity, and well-bred self-possession of the
extraordinary country girl. As she sat opposite to him, she looked so
pure, so trusting and sincere, that his astonishment went on
increasing. He acknowledged to himself never to have beheld eyes whose
expression came so directly from the heart--a heart whose interior must
be equally as sunny and pure.

"How are your good parents?"

"They are very well, Mr. Seraphin. Father has gone to work with renewed
confidence. The sad--ah! the terrible period is past. You cannot
imagine, Mr. Seraphin, how many tears you have dried, how much misery
you have relieved!"

The recollection of the ruin that had been hanging over her home
affected her painfully; her eyes glistened, and tears began to roll
down her cheeks. But she instantly repressed the emotion, and exhibited
a beautiful smile on her face. Seraphin's quick eye had observed both
the momentary feeling, and that she had resolutely checked it in order
not to annoy him by touching sorrowful chords. This trait of delicacy
also excited the admiration of the gentleman.

"Your father is not in want of employment?" he inquired with interest.

"No, sir! Father is much sought on account of his knowledge of farming.
Persons who have ground, but no team of their own, employ him to put in
crops for them."

"No doubt the good man has to toil hard?"

"That is true, sir; but father seems to like working, and we children
strive to help him as much as we can."

"And do you like working?"

"I do, indeed, Mr. Seraphin. Life would be worthless if one did not
labor. Man's life on earth is so ordered as to show him that he must
labor. Doing nothing is abominable, and idleness is the parent of many
vices."

Another cause of astonishment for the millionaire. She did not converse
like an uneducated girl from the country. Her accurate, almost choice
use of words indicated some culture, and her concise observations
revealed both mind and reflection. He felt a strong desire to fathom
the mystery--to cast a glance into Mechtild's past history.

"Have you always lived at home, or have you ever been away at school?"

She must have detected something