went for a walk together. Dear, dear"--she stamped her
foot angrily--"that I could forget like that."

"Don't be vexed, Cillchen. You mustn't be vexed. Begin again from
the beginning, that doesn't matter. I would love to hear it again,
again and again. It's splendid."

"Cillchen--Cillchen"--how playful that sounded, positively
affectionate. And how he hung on her lips.

Kate craned her neck forward; she was in the veranda now, but the
two had not noticed her yet.

The girl sang in a drawling, sing-song voice as she had sung in the
village street at home, but the boy's eyes glistened and grew big as he
listened to her. His lips moved as though he were singing as well:

"Satin and silk new-wed Henry cover;
Wealthy his bride, brought from land o' Rhine
But serpent stings tease the perjured lover,
Bid slumbers sweet his rich bed decline.

"The clock strikes twelve: sudden are appearing
Through curtain fringe, fingers, slender, white.
Whom sees he now? His once dear----"

The singer came to a standstill--suddenly the sound of a
deep-drawn breath passed through the veranda. The boy gave a terrified
shriek--there she stood, there she stood!

"Why, Wolfgang! Woelfchen!" His mother stretched out her arms to him,
but he buried his head in the girl's lap.

Kate frowned at the girl: what nonsense to sing such songs to
him.

"Oh, the mistress!" Cilia jumped up, her face crimson, and let
everything she had on her lap stocking, darning ball, wool and
scissors--fall on the floor; the boy as well.

Why were they both so terrified? Wolfgang stared at her as if she
were a ghost.

He had risen now, had kissed his mother's hand, and mechanically
raised his face to receive her kiss; but his face did not show that he
was glad to see her. Or was it embarrassment, a boyish shame because
she had taken him by surprise? His eyes did not gaze straight at her,
but always sideways. Did he look upon her as a stranger--quite a
stranger?

An inexpressible disappointment filled the heart of the woman who
had just returned home, and her voice sounded harsh without intending
it as she told the girl to go away. She sat down on the seat near the
table, which she had just vacated, and drew her boy toward her.

"How have you got on, Woelfchen? Tell me--well?"

He nodded.

"Have you missed your mother a little?"

He nodded again.

"I've brought such a lot