et rid of papa, if I had it to
do over I should accept parental tyranny as the lesser evil. Not that I
am not fond of Karl in a way. He is a dear and would be quite harmless
if he were not in love with me. But garrison society--Gott, how German
wives would rejoice in a war! Think of the freedom of being a Red Cross
nurse, and all the men at the front. Officers would be your fate, too.
Papa would not look at a man who was not in the army. He despises men
who live on their estates. So take my advice while you may. Sit tight,
as the English say. Even German fathers do not live forever. The lime in
our soil sees to that. I notice papa's face gets quite purple after
dinner, and when he is angry. His arteries must have been hardening for
twenty years."

Lili and Elsa were quite aghast at this naked ratiocination, but Gisela
whispered: "We might elope, you know."

"With whom? No Englishman or American ever crosses the threshold, and
Kate has no brothers. The students have no money and no morals, and,
what is worse, no baths. A burgess or a professional would be quite as
intolerable, and no man of our class would consent to an elopement.
Germans may be sentimental but they are not romantic when it comes to
settlements. Now take my advice."

They were taking it on this fateful day in the attic. They vowed never
to marry even if their formidable papa locked them up on bread and
water.

"Which would be rather good for us," remarked the practical Elsa. "I am
sure we eat too much, and Gisela has a tendency to plumpness. But your
turn will not come for four years yet, dear child. It is poor us that
will need all our vows."

After some deliberation they concluded to inform their mother of their
grim resolve. Naturally sympathetic, a pregnant upheaval had taken place
in that good lady's psychology during the past year. Her marriage,
although arranged by the two families, had been a love match on both
sides. The Graf was a handsome dashing and passionate lover and she a
beautiful girl, lively and companionable. Disillusion was slow in
coming, for she had been brought up on the soundest German principles
and believed in the natural superiority of the male as she did in the
House of Hohenzollern and the Lutheran religion.

But she suspected, during her thirties, that she was, after all, the
daughter of a brilliant father as well as of an obsequious mother, and
that she had possibilities of mind and spirit that clamored for
develop