.
Here it had formed from rude iron the fairest of flowers. Nothing
sweeter or lovelier, the sister thought, could be made from her darling.
But would the fire also possess the power to lead Eva, as it were, from
heaven to earth, and transform her into an energetic woman, symmetrical
in thought and deed? And what was the necessity? She was there to guide
her and remove every stone from her path.

Ah, if she should renounce the cloister and find a husband like her
Wolff! Again and again she read his greeting and pressed the beloved
sheet to her lips. She would fain have hastened to her mother's corpse
to show it to her. But just at that moment Eva returned. She must
rejoice with her over this beautiful confirmation of her hope, and as,
with flushed cheeks and brow moist with perspiration, she stood before
her, Els tenderly embraced her and, overflowing with gratitude, showed
her her lover's gift and verse, and invited her to share the great
happiness which so brightly illumined the darkness of her grief. Eva,
who was so weary that she could scarcely stand thought, like her sister,
as Els read Wolff's lines aloud, of her mother's last words. But the
forge fire of life must not transform her into a rose; she would become
harder, firmer, and she knew why and for whose sake. Only yesterday, had
she been so exhausted, nothing would have kept her, after a few brief
words to prevent Els's disappointment, from lying down, arranging her
pillows comfortably, and refreshing herself with some cooling drink; but
now she not only succeeded in appearing attentive, but in sympathising
with all her heart in her sister's happiness. How delightful it was,
too, to be able to give something to the person from whom hitherto she
had only received.

She succeeded so fully in concealing the struggle against the claims of
her wearied body that Els, after joyously perceiving how faithfully her
sister sympathised with her own delight, continued to relate what
she had just heard. Eva forced herself to listen and behave as if her
account of Heinz Schorlin's wonderful escape and desire to enter a
monastery was news to her.

Not until Els had narrated the last detail did she admit that she needed
rest; and when the former, startled by her own want of perception, urged
her to lie down, she would not do so until she had put the flowers she
had brought home into water. At last she stretched herself on the couch
beside her sister, who had so long needed