is my destiny not to be happy myself, but to save others
from unhappiness. I feel and know that Elise cannot be happy in this
love. A loving heart is gifted with prophetic second sight to read the
future. Elise can never be happy without her father's blessing, and
Gotzkowsky will never give his sanction to this love. How can I lead
her past this abyss which threatens to engulf her? May God, who sees
my heart, help me! He knows how hopeless and disinterested it is. Help
me, Father in heaven! show me some way of saving her noble father from
the grief which lies before him."

It seemed as if God had heard his prayer, and taken compassion on his
pure, unselfish spirit, and sent him assistance. A loud knocking
at the door aroused him suddenly from his gloomy thoughts, and he
hastened to open it.

A veiled lady stood there, wrapped in furs, and attended by a servant
in rich livery. In fluent French, which it could be perceived,
however, was not her native tongue, she inquired whether, as she had
been told, Herr von Brink, Tottleben's adjutant, resided there. As
Bertram answered this question in the affirmative, but added, that
Herr von Brink was in the habit of not returning from the general's
quarters before evening, she added, in a decided tone, "Well, then, I
will wait for him."

Without deeming Bertram's consent necessary, she entered the hall and
motioned to her servant to remain at the door.

After a pause, there ensued between the two one of those superficial,
ceremonious conversations, the usual refuge of those who have nothing
to say to each other; but the evident uneasiness and confusion of the
young lady prevented her from joining freely in it. Her large, bright
eyes strayed restlessly around the room. A hectic flush alternated
on her cheeks with deathly pallor, and the smile, which occasionally
played around her lips, seemed but a painful expression of mental
suffering. Suddenly she raised her head, as if determined no longer to
bear this constraint, or submit to the fetters of conventionality.

"Sir," said she, in a tone vibrating with excitement and anxiety, "you
will excuse my asking you a question, on the answer to which depends
my future happiness, my life, indeed--to obtain which I have travelled
from St. Petersburg here. I have just left my carriage in which I
performed the journey from that city. You can therefore judge
how important the cause of this undertaking is to me, and what an
influence it m