ut, believe me, very queer
things do happen in this forest. I have experienced them myself."

"Well!" Hellen replied, laughing more heartily than before, "if I wish
anything at all it is that my wife were here to see how beautifully I
have bandaged your wrist."

"Where is your wife?" the stranger inquired.

"At Frankfort, most likely taking a final peep at the children in bed
before retiring to rest herself!" Hellen said, still laughing.

"Then you have children!" the stranger ejaculated, evidently
interested.

"Yes, three--all girls--and such bonny girls, too. Marcella, Christina,
and Fredericka. I wish I had them here for you to see."

"I should much like to see them, certainly," the stranger said. "And now
you have told me so much of interest about yourself, let me tell you
something of my own history in exchange. My name is Wilfred Gaverstein.
I am an artist by profession, and have come to live here during the
summer months in order to paint nature--nature as it really is--in all
its varying moods. Nature is my only god--I adore it. I don't believe in
souls. I love the trees and flowers and shrubs, the rivulets, the
fountains, the birds and insects."

"Everything but the wolves!" Hellen remarked jocularly. Hardly, however,
had he spoken these words before he had reason to alter his tone. "Great
heavens! do you hear that?" he cried. "There is no mistake about it this
time. It is a wolf, or may I never live to hear one again."

"You are right, friend," Wilfred said. "It is a wolf, and not very far
away, either. Come, we must be quick," and thrusting his arm through
that of Hellen, he hurried him along. After some minutes' fast walking
they came in sight of a neatly thatched whitewashed cottage, at the
entrance to which two women and several children were collected. "That's
my home," Wilfred said.

"And that's my wife!" Hellen cried, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was
not dreaming. "God in heaven, what's the meaning of it all? My wife and
children--all three of them! Am I mad?"

"It is merely the answer to your wishes," Wilfred rejoined calmly. "See,
they recognize you and are waving."

As one in a sleep Hellen now staggered forward, and was soon in the
midst of his family, who, rushing up to him, implored him to explain
what had happened, and how on earth they came to be there.

"I am just as much at sea as you are," Hellen said, feeling them each in
turn to make sure it was really they. "It's an insol