been
lately opening itself, and the strange names humming about his ears made
him cross and ill-tempered. The orders for flowers which had been made
by his lord and lady in the course of the past year, he considered so
much useless waste and extravagance--all the more, as he saw many
valuable plants disappear, and as he had ceased to stand on the best
possible terms with the nursery gardeners, who, he fancied, had not been
serving him honestly.

Consequently, after a number of attempts, he had formed a sort of a
plan, in which Ottilie encouraged him the more readily because its first
essential condition was the return of Edward, whose absence in this, as
in many other matters, every day had to be felt more and more seriously.

Now that the plants were ever striking new roots, and putting out their
shoots, Ottilie felt herself even more fettered to this spot. It was
just a year since she had come there as a stranger, as a mere
insignificant creature. How much had she not gained for herself since
that time! but, alas! how much had she not also since that time lost
again! Never had she been so rich, and never so poor. The feelings of
her loss and of her gain alternated momentarily one with another,
chasing each other through her heart; and she could find no other means
to help herself, except always to set to work again at what lay nearest
to her, with such interest and eagerness as she could command.

That everything which she knew to be dear to Edward received especial
care from her may be supposed. And why should she not hope that he
himself would now soon come back again; and that, when present, he would
show himself grateful for all the care and pains which she had taken for
him in his absence?

But there was also a far different employment which she took upon
herself in his service; she had undertaken the principal charge of the
child, whose immediate attendant it was all the easier for her to be, as
they had determined not to put it into the hands of a nurse, but to
bring it up themselves by hand with milk and water. In the beautiful
season it was much out of doors, enjoying the free air, and Ottilie
liked best to take it out herself, to carry the unconscious sleeping
infant among the flowers and blossoms which should one day smile so
brightly on its childhood--among the young shrubs and plants, which, by
their youth, seemed designed to grow up with the young lord to their
after-stature. When she looked about he