re singing, and the forest
stream that flowed through the grounds murmured as if regretful at
being obliged to leave the spot so soon.

Within doors all was joy and happiness. Bronnen and Paula were
betrothed. The love that had calmly grown and ripened, now suddenly
burst forth in all its glory. Bronnen wished to call Paula his own,
before the arrival of the court, so that she might then feel less
constrained and have an opportunity to accustom herself to the manners
of the court circle. It was not without fear that Madame Gunther
thought of her child entering the stirring life of the capital, a life
of which she had an unconquerable dread. Bronnen told the doctor and
his wife that he had found it easier to bring about reform in politics
than in court etiquette. It had hitherto been a time-honored and
unalterable custom that wives of the citizen class' could not be
presented at court, no matter what their husbands' rank might be. He
had not been able to effect a change in this until he had made it a
cabinet question. Gunther smiled at this explanation. He knew how
stubbornly etiquette resisted all attempts at innovation. Madame
Gunther, on the other hand, was quite alarmed at the idea that, both at
court and at the capital, Paula would be the first lady after the
queen. She would have been far better pleased if Bronnen's position had
been an humbler one; but she loved him with a maternal affection that
expressed itself in her every glance. She even went so far that Gunther
smilingly remarked: "You've become disloyal to your own country,--" for
she had asserted that a man so noble, so dignified, and yet both firm
and yielding in character, could only be developed under a monarchical
government. "In a republic," said she, "there is a certain want of form
and indulgence of personal inclinations. The self-respect which never
fails in the respect due to others was the peculiar fruit of courts,
and Bronnen had one talent which was especially calculated to place
every one at ease while with him. He was a good listener, and was
always willing to wait attentively until you had finished what you
wanted to say."

The joy of the parents was, however, but a mild reflection of that of
the betrothed. After Paula had, in all sincerity, confessed her fear
that she might fail to satisfy a man like Bronnen, she soon became calm
again, for she felt that there is a depth of love which, including all
that is highest on earth, embraces endu