l quite right in this
respect; but, candidly speaking, I am in great fear on your account, Mr.
Thostrup. Still waters--you know the proverb? I might have spared you
the trouble. The letter which I received a few evenings ago informed me
of her departure. Mamma has taken her with her. It seemed to her a
sin to leave that sweet, innocent girl in a public-house. The host and
hostess were born upon our estate, and look very much up to my mother;
and as Eva will certainly gain by the change, the whole affair was soon
settled. It is well that she is come under mamma's oversight."

"The girl is almost indifferent to me!" said Otto.

"Almost!" repeated Sophie. "But this almost, how many degrees of warmth
does it contain? 'O Verite! Ou sont les autels et tes pretres?'" added
she, and smiling raised her finger.

"Time will show how much you are in error!" answered Otto with much
calmness.

The lady of the house now entered, she had made various calls;
everywhere the Ghost's Letters were the subject of conversation, and now
the conversation took the same direction.

It was often renewed. Otto was a very frequent guest at the house. The
ladies sat at their embroidery frames and embroidered splendid pieces
of work, and Otto must again read the "Letters of the Wandering Ghost;"
after this they began "Calderon," in whom Sophie found something
resembling the anonymous author. The world of poetry afforded subjects
for discourse, and every-day life intermingled its light, gay scenes; if
Wilhelm joined them, he must give them music, and all remarked that his
fantasies were become far richer, far softer. He had gained his touch
from Weyse, said they. No one thought how much one may learn from one's
own heart. With this exception he was the same joyous youth as ever. No
one thought of him and Eva together. Since that evening when the friends
had almost quarreled, he had never mentioned her name; but Otto had
remarked how when any female figure met them, Wilhelm's eyes flashed,
and how, in society, he singled out the most beautiful. Otto said
jokingly to him, that he was getting oriental thoughts. Oehlenschlaeger's
"Helge," and Goethe's Italian sonnets were now Wilhelm's favorite
reading. The voluptuous spirit of these poems agreed with the dreams
which his warm feelings engendered. It was Eva's beauty--her beauty
alone which had awoke this feeling in him; the modesty and poverty of
the poor girl had captivated him still more, and cause