d I will confess it to you, my child. The Russian
flag of truce which came into town to negotiate with the authorities
was accompanied by ten soldiers and two officers. While the
commissioner was transacting business in the Council-chamber above,
they remained below in the lower story of the building. I accompanied
the commissioner, as he left the Council, down-stairs, and we found
his military escort in a state of anxiety and excitement, for one of
the officers had left them two hours before, and had not yet returned,
and they had called and hunted for him everywhere. The Russians were
furious, and cried out that we had murdered one of their officers.
I succeeded in quieting them, but my own heart I could not quiet;
it felt convulsively cramped when I heard the name of this missing
officer. Need I name him?"

Elise did not answer. She looked at her father, with tears in her
eyes, and shook her head languidly.

Gotzkowsky continued: "It is the name of a man to whom I formerly
showed much friendship; toward whom I exercised hospitality, and whom
I made free of my house, and who now shows his gratitude by stealing
the heart of my daughter, like a pitiful thief. Oh, do not attempt to
deny this. I know it, Elise; and if I have hitherto avoided speaking
to you about this matter, it was because I had confidence in your
sound sense, and in the purity of heart of a German girl to sustain
you in resisting a feeling which would lead you astray from the path
of duty and honor. I do not say that you loved him, but that he wished
to seduce you into loving him clandestinely, behind your father's
back. That is his gratitude for my hospitality."

Speaking thus, Gotzkowsky pressed his daughter's hand more firmly in
his own, and continued approaching more closely to the door. "Only
think," continued he, "the mad thought crossed my mind--'How if this
man should be rash and foolhardy enough to have gone to my daughter?'
But I forgot to tell you his name. Feodor von Brenda was the name of
the treacherous guest, and Feodor von Brenda was also the name of
the officer who left the commissioner, perhaps in search of some love
adventure. But why do you tremble?" asked he in a loud tone, as her
hand quivered in his.

"I do not tremble, father," replied she, striving for composure.

Gotzkowsky raised his voice still higher till it sounded again.
"Forgive me this suspicion, my daughter. I should have known that,
even if this insolent Russian