odily injury.

[Illustration: EDWARD AND OTTILIE]

What the meaning of this could be, we shall immediately learn. When they
had got down, and were seated opposite each other at a table under the
trees, and when the miller's wife had gone for milk, and the miller, who
had come out to them, was sent to meet Charlotte and the Captain,
Edward, with a little embarrassment, began to speak:

"I have a request to make, dear Ottilie; you will forgive me for asking
it, if you will not grant it. You make no secret (I am sure you need not
make any), that you wear a miniature under your dress against your
breast. It is the picture of your noble father. You could hardly have
known him; but in every sense he deserves a place by your heart. Only,
forgive me, the picture is exceedingly large, and the metal frame and
the glass, if you take up a child in your arms, if you are carrying
anything, if the carriage swings violently, if we are pushing through
bushes, or just now, as we were coming down these rocks--cause me a
thousand anxieties for you. Any unforeseen blow, a fall, a touch, may be
fatally injurious to you; and I am terrified at the possibility of it.
For my sake do this: put away the picture, not out of your affections,
not out of your room; let it have the brightest, the holiest place which
you can give it; only do not wear upon your breast a thing, the presence
of which seems to me, perhaps from an extravagant anxiety, so
dangerous."

Ottilie said nothing, and while he was speaking she kept her eyes fixed
straight before her; then, without hesitation and without haste, with a
look turned more toward heaven than on Edward, she unclasped the chain,
drew out the picture, and pressed it against her forehead, and then
reached it over to her friend, with the words:

"Do you keep it for me till we come home; I cannot give you a better
proof how deeply I thank you for your affectionate care."

He did not venture to press the picture to his lips; but he caught her
hand and raised it to his eyes. They were, perhaps, two of the most
beautiful hands which had ever been clasped together. He felt as if a
stone had fallen from his heart, as if a partition-wall had been thrown
down between him and Ottilie.

Under the miller's guidance, Charlotte and the Captain came down by an
easier path, and now joined them. There was the meeting, and a happy
talk, and then they took some refreshments. They would not return by the
same way as they