kissed his master's
hands and arms in the excess of his joyful surprise, and yet he had felt
as if a dark cloud was shadowing the brightness of his soul. The morning
sun had shone so radiantly into his window, and Annele had come with
such bewitching shyness to bring him a little bunch of lilies of the
valley with a rose in the centre, and a pleasant morning greeting from
her mother, that the cloud could not remain, yet it had only parted
occasionally to close again speedily, though it was less dense and dark
than before.

Yet he had taken the child in his arms and looked down into the narrow
street to show her the people going to market so gaily in the early
morning. But he soon put her down again, for he recognised in a horseman
approaching on a weary steed Count Curt Gleichen, the most intimate
friend of young Prince Hartmann and himself, and when he called to him
he had slid from his saddle with a faint greeting.

Heinz instantly rushed out of the house to meet him, but he had found
him beside his steed, which had sunk on its knees, and then, trembling
and panting, dragged itself, supported by its rider's hand, into the
entry. There it fell, rolled over on its side, and stretched its limbs
stiffly in death. It was the third horse which the messenger had killed
since he left the Rhine, yet he was sure of arriving too soon; for he
had to announce to a father the death of his promising son.

Heinz listened, utterly overwhelmed, to the narrative of the
eye-witness, who described how Hartmann, ere he could stretch out a hand
to save him, had been dragged into the depths by the waves of the Rhine.

In spite of the sunny brightness of the morning the young Swiss had had
a presentiment of some great misfortune, and had told himself that he
would welcome it if it relieved him from the burden which had darkened
his soul since the disgraceful good luck of the previous night. Now
it had happened, and how gladly he would have continued to bear the
heaviest load to undo the past. He had sobbed on his friend's breast
like a child, accusing Heaven for having visited him with this
affliction.

Hartmann had been not only his friend but his pupil--and what a pupil!
He had instructed him in horsemanship and the use of the sword, and
during the last year shared everything with him and young Count Gleichen
as if they were three brothers and, like a brother, the prince had
constantly grown closer to his heart. Had he, Heinz, accompan