"And to-day," said Leonore, "your last answer goes to Colonel R——, your last, no! And you feel quite satisfied that it should be so?"
"Yes, quite!" returned Eva; "how the heart changes! I cannot now conceive how I once loved him!"
"It is extraordinary how he should still solicit your hand, and this after so long a separation. He must have loved you much more than any of the others to whom he made court."
"I do not think so, but—ah, Leonore! do you see the beautiful apple there? It is quite bright. Can you reach it? No? Yes, if you climb on this bough."
"Must I give myself so much trouble?" asked Leonore; "that is indeed shocking! Well, but I must try, only catch me if I should fall!"
The sisters were here interrupted by Petrea, whose appearance showed that she had something interesting to communicate.
"See, Eva," said she, giving to her a written piece of paper, "here you have something for morning-reading. Now you must convince yourself of something of which till now you would not believe. And I shall call you a stock, a stone, an automaton without heart and soul, if you do not—yes, smile! You will not laugh when you have read it. Leonore! come, dear Leonore, you must read it also, you will give me credit for being right. Read, sisters, read!"
The sisters read the following remarks, in the handwriting of the Assessor.
"'Happy is the lonely and the lowly! He may ripen and refresh himself in peace!' Beautiful words, and what is better, true.
"The foundling has proved their truth. He was sick in mind, heart, and sick of the world and of himself, but he belonged to the lowly and to the unnoticed, and so he could be alone; alone, in the fresh, quiet wood, alone with the Great Physician, who only can heal the deep wounds of the heart—and it is become better with him.