haved altogether with great propriety considering its
few years. But, for all that, a certain uneasiness weighed upon all the
people in the little room, as they sat together on the sofa or round
the table. Neither Jansen nor Julie had considered how they should
properly clothe their project in words, since their relation to one
another heretofore had borne none of the usual names, and it might not
be so easy to explain to these simple-minded women what was meant by
the engagement of a married man, and the maternal rights of his "bride"
to his child.

It is very possible they had both counted on the aid of their good
"elephant," who, as a general thing, was never at a loss for a word on
either serious or pleasant occasions. But Angelica also seemed to have
left her humor outside, when she entered this peaceful little chamber.
She only had sufficient tact to admire the other children, and to
devote herself especially to the little two-year nestling, whom she
pronounced to be "a charming little rascal, with true Rubens coloring."

Thus a good half hour passed away; every subject was exhausted which
could possibly be broached on a first visit, and still the main topic
had not been touched upon. Then at last the little housewife, who had
now and then exchanged a meaning look with the old woman in the window
corner, came to the aid of her old friend and lodger by rising and
requesting him to step into the adjoining room with her for a moment,
as she had something to say to him that would be of no interest to the
ladies.

So she led him into her absent husband's study, shut and locked the
door behind her, and, the moment she was alone with him, plunged into
the heart of the matter.

"Dear friend," she said, in her rapid Palatinate dialect, dropping all
the _n_'s at the ends of her words, and introducing a number of those
pretty turns of speech that flow so charmingly from the lips of pretty
Palatinate women, "now just tell me straightforwardly what all this
means. Do you seriously suppose you can pull the wool over my eyes, or
that I sha'n't see that this charming woman is your sweetheart or
something of that sort, and not a mere cousin in the seventeenth
degree? Now, I most certainly have nothing against it if you admire a
beautiful Fraeulein; that is your privilege as an artist, and besides
you are no old beau with silver locks; and this woman could almost
steal my own heart away if I were a man. But there is something b