ring happiness. The lovers
roamed through field and forest, and Bronnen was again and again
reminded of the pure and radiant sentiments which the refined and
elevated atmosphere of her home had firmly established in Paula. With
every new chord that he touched, he struck a rich store of thought and
found her gifted with an impressible and receptive mind. He rejoiced in
the destiny which had thus directed his choice, and in the conviction
that all individual improvement is achieved and perfected by mutual
effort.

Madame Gunther was with her husband in his study, and would, now and
then, look out of the window at the lovers, who were walking in the
garden.

"Bronnen made a strange confession to Paula and me yesterday," said
she. "If another had told me of it, I would not have believed it."

"What was it?"

"He told us, with a voice full of emotion, that he had once loved
Countess Wildenort. Did you know of it?"

"No, but I can't find anything wrong in it. If she only could have
controlled her impulses, she would have been worthy of the best of men,
and my dear Eberhard deserved to have such a man for his son."

"Tell me," asked Madame Gunther, "I've never found the slightest thing
to object to in him, but do you think it right of him to tell Paula of
this? It will make her still more anxious; she will compare herself
with the brilliant countess, and--"

"Don't let that trouble you," said Gunther, interrupting her; "a heart
which, like our child's, is conscious of the full power of love,
possesses an inexhaustible fund of happiness which no rival, be she
ever so great and brilliant, can disturb. If it were possible, I would
think even more of him than I now do, for having told her of this. It
is not every man who is so fortunate as I have been, and whose first
love is his only love. Most of us are obliged to pass through
disappointment and loss, and he who, like Bronnen, has come out of the
ordeal, pure and unscathed, may praise his lot. The more I regard the
world from a distance, as it were, the greatest misfortune which has
befallen mankind is, that a life soiled by vice should go on parallel
with that which is termed regular and domestic, creating discord among
men, as well as in the individual mind. If the race is to be saved, a
great revolution must take place in the minds of men. We have watched
over our child so long and so faithfully that, in spite of all worldly
happiness, it would deeply grieve me to se