th her every day, every hour; I long to hear her voice and read my
happiness in her eloquent eyes! I know not what may be your decision;
but, believe me, if it shall be adverse to my hopes, I shall not long
survive the blow. If your decree separate, me from my beloved Lenora,
life will no longer have a charm for me!"

Gustave uttered his romantic rhapsody--the rhapsody of most lovers--with
that genuine emotion which bespoke his sincerity, and touched the heart
of De Vlierbeck so deeply that he grasped his hand and implored him to
be calm.

"Don't tremble so, my young friend," said the old gentleman. "I know
very well that you love Lenora, and that she is not insensible to your
affection for her. But what have you to propose to me?"

Gustave replied, dejectedly,--"If I still doubt your approval, after all
the marks of esteem you have given me, it is because I fear you do not
consider me worthy the happiness I have sought. I have no ancestral tree
whose roots are buried in the past; the good deeds of my forefathers do
not shine in history; the blood that runs in my veins comes from a
common stock."

"Do you think," said De Vlierbeck, interrupting him, "that I was
ignorant of all this from the first day of our acquaintance? No Gustave;
no matter what your lineage may be, your own heart is generous and
noble; and, had it not been so, I would never have esteemed and treated
you as my son."

"And so," exclaimed Gustave, catching at the last words with a burst of
joyous impatience, "you don't refuse me Lenora's hand?--you will
interpose no objection, provided my uncle gives his consent?"

"No," replied De Vlierbeck; "I shall not refuse it to you. On the
contrary, it will give me unbounded happiness to intrust the fate of my
only child to your keeping. And yet there is an obstacle of which you
have no idea."

"An obstacle!" exclaimed Gustave, growing pale;--"an obstacle between
Lenora and me?"

"Be silent a moment," said De Vlierbeck, "and listen to the explanation
I shall give you. You think, Gustave, I suppose, that Grinselhof and
all its dependencies belong to us? It is not so: we are penniless. We
are poorer far than the peasant who rents our farming-land and lives
yonder at the gate!"

Gustave looked doubtingly at De Vlierbeck, with so incredulous a smile
that the poor gentleman blushed, and trembled like an aspen.

"I see you do not believe me," continued he; "I see it in your smile and
look. Like the rest of