th, not over the
sea nor into the desert, but to a cottage in a wood. I have stripped
off the last vestige of the past, and the silver wreath and the golden
goblet have been of some use, for they have furnished us the means to
found a new existence. Bertram, have you the courage to commence life
anew and become a peasant?"

Bertram smiled. "I have both the courage and the strength, for I am
hearty and able to work."

"And you, Elise, are you not too proud to bring up your child as a
peasant?"

Elise kissed her child, and handed him to her father. "Let us bring
him up to be a good and healthy man--a man like you and his father,
and he will overcome the world and poverty, and be happy."

"Oh! I well knew that I could count upon you; and now I know how we
all can be helped. We are rich enough to buy, in some corner of the
world, a little piece of land that we can cultivate, and on which we
can build a cottage. The product of my valuables is sufficient for
that purpose; and what we can realize from these articles of furniture
will be sufficient to defray our travelling expenses. Get ready, then,
children; to-morrow we leave for Silesia. In the mountains there
we will look out some quiet, secluded valley, where the newly-made
peasants can build them a cottage. There we will forget the past, and
cast all its sufferings behind us; or if we do speak of them, it will
be as of the tales of our childhood. Come, my children, let us return
to Nature, God, and contentment. Do you remember, Elise, how I once
related to you that as a lad I once lay hungry and wretched on the
high-road? The hand which was then stretched out to me did not proceed
out of the cloud, but from heaven. It was not the consolation of
an alms that it gave me, but the comforting assurance of love which
raised me up and strengthened me, directing my looks to God, and
teaching me to love Him in all His works. God dwells and speaks in
Nature. Let us seek Him there, and serve Him in the sweat of our brow
and in the coarse peasant's frock."

* * * * *

And they went, and did as Gotzkowsky said. They moved to Silesia, and
bought themselves there, among the mountains, a piece of land and a
cottage, in which they led a quiet, retired, happy life. The world
forgot them. Gotzkowsky's name passed into oblivion. But history
preserved it, and still holds him up as an example, not only of the
most noble patriotism, but also of the ingrati