feelingly to annoy him with the remembrance of that steam which had ruined him.

"I am not much in trim for paying visits," said I, as I arranged my cravat before one of those old-fashioned oval glasses which give such an undue proportion to the prominent feature of the face, as to make a man endowed with anything but the very flattest 'pug' feel horrified at his likeness to the vignettes of the Charivari; "but, then, an old philosopher is sure not to be particular even if he be not as blind as Homer."

Konrad smiled mysteriously, in a manner which I conld not comprehend, as it seemed to say, "You don't know whom you're going to see ;" and we at length sallied forth.

Niederlahnstein is one of those quaint old villages along the Rhine which belong entirely to the middle agesone of those little communities which sprang up beneath the protecting shade of some feudal castle, and flourished on the trade of that great watery thoroughfare. Its picturesque old houses are built of a dark stone, interspersed with carved rafters of a yet darker wood, and roofed, to all appearance, with a complete thatch of moss and wallflower. It has but a single street, running parallel to the river; but, though simple, it is very picturesque. There is a pleasantness about its very simplicity which is materially enhanced by the honest faces of its rustic denizens peering beneath the low-arched doorways.

We followed the directions given by our host, and turned a little from the street to a small garden, enclosed by a low wall. An old-fashioned house of two stories, completely hidden by the creeping roses that clung in bunches to its walls, stood back, and we now saw a light in one of the windows. The shadow of a coming event was upon me, and I felt a sensation of pleasure which I could not understand as I watched for a moment the yellow light from the window falling on the white roses without. We passed through the little garden, found the house-door open, and, without any announcement of our presence, proceeded quietly to mount a dark, low stone staircase. Dornheim went first, and I soon caught sight of the light streaming through an open door, and managed by means of it to follow him along a narrow passage. Though our steps

made some noise, we were evidently unheard, for we caught the sound of an old man's voice reading the beautiful saying of Him whose words shall never pass away-"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect." The next moment we stood at the door unperceived. The room was poorly furnished, and surrounded with bookshelves, while the floor, the table, and even the chairs, were covered with huge dusty volumes. On the table was a large lamp, and almost behind it, on an old chair with a high, pointed, and carved back, sat a man, whose handsome face might have been modelled for a bust of Antinous. The high brow asserted command, the large temples were broad with thought, the chiselled nostrils spoke of taste, and the large, soft, brown eyes were fraught with feeling, warmth, enthusiasm, and heart. There was but one defect, and that was a grave one—the mouth, though the lips were beautifully bowed, was spoiled by a projecting chin. This, while it destroyed the beauty, added greatly to the character of the face, and threw light on that of its owner. In that one defect lay all of grossness, all of earthliness and sensuality, all, too, of weakness, that deformed the spiritual perfection of his face and his nature. Without it, he might have been a god, with it he was a man, and even a little lower than a man. the rest, sorrow had left its footprints on his cheeks, and laid its silver on his head. There was a slight, a very slight, sinking of the lower lids of his eyes, which gave him the appearance of a man consumed by his sorrows, and yet there was a serenity about his mouth which destroyed that impression. He certainly looked nearer sixty than fifty.

As to

His face had struck me so much, that I had time to study it before I perceived that there was another near itmore pleasing, if scarcely as interesting. Behind the chair, leaning her face on her hand, and reading over her father's shoulder, stood a girl of fifteen or sixteen, though tall, and somehow with an expression too advanced for her years. The face struck me as pretty, but, as I then saw it, certainly not as beautiful. The abundant masses of almost golden hair, so fine and silky by nature that it seemed as if the brush of civilisation had scarcely touched it,

struck me chiefly; beneath these was a fresh face of rather irregular features, with a very lovely complexion and large blue eyes. The mouth had borrowed in the slightest degree possible the turning of her father's. The lips were thick and pouting, and, though the chin was quite en régle, the under lip projected just enough to give a strange expression to an otherwise pleasing face.

It took me scarce three minutes to examine these two faces, though it has taken long to describe them; and before the investigation was completed Konrad had knocked at the open door, and the two heads raised their eyes in astonishment. I could perceive that the colour left the cheek of the man, and, on the other hand, came into that of the maiden, whose careless youth was not yet the slave of nervous fears.

The next minute, the recognition had taken place, and, with ejaculations of astonishment, the old man had embraced Konrad, more Germanico.

"My best friend," said Konrad, placing my hand in that of Von Rit

ter.

"He would be mine," said the other, "even if he were your worst. Yet how," he continued, still holding my hands, "how much is that sacred name abused. How much is expected of a friend, and how little is accomplished. If you are an honest man, and take unto you some apparently devoted Pylades, who is all eager to serve you to the last drop of his blood, how soon you find the tables are turned. It is first a little affair of a duel, where the friend whose humanity you respected, aims at his adversary's heart and kills him. You are merely obliged to seek an honourable exile, and your 'friend' scarcely thanks you. Then it is to put your name to a little bill, 'quite secure,' he tells you, and when the day comes, you are there and he is off, and you are ruined for your friend. Or it is security for appearance, and your good-hearted friend' prefers his own security to yours, and your purse is emptied for him. You may say that a well-chosen friend will generally do as much for you, as you for him; but how many times it is the honester man who suffers, duped by the abuse of that sacred epithet. How natural for the less scrupulous to get out of your scrapes, when you have real need of him, by a

polite but stiff note, ending with those often repeated words, After duly considering the matter, it would seem more advisable that our acquaintance should cease.' Yes, the word friendship, abused so often before, can there be no longer employed, and your faithful Achates discovers, at the right momen, that you have never been

on terms of intimacy.' I have known what it is to have friends, and I assure you the experience has made me very Christian, for I can safely say I love my enemies a great deal better.'

There was a tone of deep bitterness about these words which I could not then understand, but which lent a deep interest to him. He had all the manner, the tone, and even the dress, though without its freshness, of a man of the world, and, after expecting to find a great deal of beard and philosophy, I was both agreeably and disagreeably disappointed-sorry for the loss of the philosophic aspect, and rejoiced at the sight of a clean shirt. I could not understand how this man, whose face bore more traces of deep feeling than of profound thought, could have been the author of a work which had originated a new school throughout Germany, and had found readers throughout the world.

Meanwhile, it had not escaped me that a more than common greeting was going forward between Konrad and the philosopher's daughter; and the whole matter was decided in my mind before her father had finished his sermon on the old adage of a "friend in need." It was clear that Konrad had here a deeper interest than the mere affection for an old friend; his anxiety to come was now explained, and he had brought me, partly out of goodnature, and partly to keep the papa engaged while he flirted with the damsel. I saw it all, and was too fond of my old Pylades to thwart his plans.

When, therefore, the old man led me up, and joining our hands with the old-fashioned courtesy of the South of Germany, said, "My daughter, Beatrix, has two good reasons for liking you, even before she knows you Firstly, because you are the friend of her ." he hesitated a moment, her-very old companion; and, secondly, because you are an Englishman. She admires your country and yourselves far more than Ger

struck me chiefly; beneath these was a fresh face of rather irregular features, with a very lovely complexion and large blue eyes. The mouth had borrowed in the slightest degree possible the turning of her father's. The lips were thick and pouting, and, though the chin was quite en régle, the under lip projected just enough to give a strange expression to an otherwise pleasing face.

It took me scarce three minutes to examine these two faces, though it has taken long to describe them; and before the investigation was completed Konrad had knocked at the open door, and the two heads raised their eyes in astonishment. I could perceive that the colour left the cheek of the man, and, on the other hand, came into that of the maiden, whose careless youth was not yet the slave of nervous fears.

The next minute, the recognition had taken place, and, with ejaculations of astonishment, the old man had embraced Konrad, more Germanico.

"My best friend," said Konrad, placing my hand in that of Von Rit

ter.

"He would be mine," said the other, "even if he were your worst. Yet how," he continued, still holding my hands, "how much is that sacred name abused. How much is expected of a friend, and how little is accomplished. If you are an honest man, and take unto you some apparently devoted Pylades, who is all eager to serve you to the last drop of his blood, how soon you find the tables are turned. It is first a little affair of a duel, where the friend whose humanity you respected, aims at his adversary's heart and kills him. You are merely obliged to seek an honourable exile, and your 'friend' scarcely thanks you. Then it is to put your name to a little bill, quite secure,' he tells you, and when the day comes, you are there and he is off, and you are ruined for your 'friend.' Or it is security for ap pearance, and your good-hearted 'friend' prefers his own security to yours, and your purse is emptied for him. You may say that a well-chosen friend will generally do as much for you, as you for him; but how many times it is the honester man who suf fers, duped by the abuse of that sacred epithet. How natural for the less scrupulous to get out of your scrapes, when you have real need of him, by a

polite but stiff note, ending with those often repeated words, After duly considering the matter, it would seem more advisable that our acquaintance should cease.' Yes, the word friendship, abused so often before, can there be no longer employed, and your faithful Achates discovers, at the right momen, that you have never been on terms of intimacy.' I have known what it is to have friends, and I assure you the experience has made me very Christian, for I can safely say I love my enemies a great deal better."

There was a tone of deep bitterness about these words which I could not then understand, but which lent a deep interest to him. He had all the manner, the tone, and even the dress, though without its freshness, of a man of the world, and, after expecting to find a great deal of beard and philosophy, I was both agreeably and disagreeably disappointed - sorry for the loss of the philosophic aspect, and rejoiced at the sight of a clean shirt. I could not understand how this man, whose face bore more traces of deep feeling than of profound thought, could have been the author of a work which had originated a new school throughout Germany, and had found readers throughout the world.

Meanwhile, it had not escaped me that a more than common greeting was going forward between Konrad and the philosopher's daughter; and the whole matter was decided in my mind before her father had finished his sermon on the old adage of a "friend in need." It was clear that Konrad had here a deeper interest than the mere affection for an old friend; his anxiety to come was now explained, and he had brought me, partly out of goodnature, and partly to keep the papa engaged while he flirted with the damsel. I saw it all, and was too fond of my old Pylades to thwart his plans.

When, therefore, the old man led me up, and joining our hands with the old-fashioned courtesy of the South of Germany, said, "My daughter, Beatrix, has two good reasons for liking you, even before she knows you- Firstly, because you are the friend of her he hesitated a moment, "her-very old companion ; and, secondly, because you are an Englishman. She admires your country and yourselves far more than Ger

"

mans and Germany, which should be, if they are not, nearest to her heart."

"And so they are, papa," said the young girl, drawing herself up with a mock pride. "Do you forget that we are on the banks of the Rhine, the very name of which wakes the love

of Vaterland' in every German breast? That which I admire in your country, Mr. Sherwood," she blushed a little as she turned to me, "is your constitution, your liberty without license, your constant reform without revolution, and that feature in your character which fits you to receive the unbounded gift of liberty a gift which is abused in America and France, and would be so, I fear, in Germany, if there were any chance of our being offered it."

I was astonished at this burst of

political enthusiasm in so young a girl;

and even her father looked on as if he delighted to see how the mind which he had trained himself could use its newly-fledged wings.

"But, my child," he said, laying his hand on her shoulder, "you forget that we can educate the German mind to receive the liberty which will one day be offered it. You forget that nearly a third of the entire population is brought up at the gymnasiums and the universities supported by each government; that it is possible for the professors of these establishments to unite in mingling as much political training as they please with their everyday lectures; that where the object to be gained is so immense, the Jesuitism in this abuse of trust is quite excusable

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"Yes," she interrupted; " and what follows? Exile for life from the place of one's birth, and the loss of one's little all."

"Child, child !" replied her father, "this it but a small price to pay for such a prize. But," he added suddenly, this disquisition can scarcely amuse our guests. We must treat them better. Go, child, and prepare us a bowl of Maitrank, and let it be of your best. It is just the kind of evening for it."

Shall I weary you with the long conversations that ensued around that social bowl of Rhenish nectar, which was certainly of your very best, Beatrix. How well I remember the old china basin in which it was served, and which you told me was bought

from a collection in that fine old palace of the Electors of Mayence, the dark red front of which smiles peacefully at the very edge of the Rhine. How well I remember the quaint taste of the wood-roof, which you bathed in just the right proportions in that brisk old Lahnecker. And the subjects we discussed, I could almost tell you every word each of us said, and the tone in which we said them. We went glibly from one topic to another, as those do whose minds are full of rich thought, and like a kaleidoscope, need but a shake to form a new pattern of ideas. Von Ritter spoke little, but well, as if a spell was on his mind. My interest in him was growing deep, and I watched his expression as we talked freely on many subjects. It was the smile of an old man, listening to children's prattle of a master hearing his disciples dispute-of one who sees all things from a higher watch-tower than the rest of the world-who looks down on the earth as on a globe, a planet, a star.

"And what," he cried, suddenly, "what good chance brought you to Niederlahnstein ?"

"Why," replied Konrad, "Fate seems to have set a great importance on our coming, for she took very strong measures to ensure it, and would have even sacrificed the life of Karl here, that I might have the pleasure of meeting you again."

"So you are the authors of all my misery, cried Beatrix, laughing. "How wrong of you, Monsieur Sherwood, to try and drown yourself in that way. I assure you it shocked me awfully. I was sitting on my favourite turret in the castle, reading and thinking-for the place is fitted for both when I saw a boat floating down the stream. I thought I recognised one of the figures in it, and I stared hard at them, till I saw they were staring at me in return. I was just going down, when I saw you thrown out, and the boat dashed frightfully over the rapid, whirling round and round in a most dangerous manner. I certainly expected you would be drowned, but I had some vague idea that by rushing down and sending assistance I might be in_time to save you. To say the truth, I did not reason much on the matter, for I could not stay and look on while any one was drowning; and I determined