"Laura wishes you to elope with her."
Fritz was dazed.
"It is scarcely for a mother to express this wish to you, but I do not know how to do otherwise."
"But where to?" cried the Doctor, quite aghast.
"That is the most painful part of all, as you yourself must acknowledge. What put the idea into her head, whether poetry, or reading about the great world in the newspapers, I know not. But to her frame of mind, which is always excited and tragic, I can oppose no resistance. I am afraid to impart it to my husband. I conjure you to do what you can to calm my child. Her feelings are wounded, and I can no longer resist the inward struggle for this young heart."
"I beg permission," replied the Doctor, "to speak immediately with Laura on the subject."
Without waiting for the mother's answer, he hastened up the stairs to Laura's room. He knocked, but receiving no answer, opened the door. Laura was sitting by her writing-table, sobbing violently.
"Dear, sweet Laura," exclaimed the Doctor, "I have been speaking with your mother; let me know all."
Laura started.
"Every warm feeling is rejected with scorn, every hour that I see you is embittered by the hostility of my father. The heart of the poorest maiden palpitates when she hears the voice of the man she loves: but I must ask, is that the happiness of love? When I do not see you I am in anxiety about you, and when you come to us I feel tormented, and listen with terror to every word of my father. I see you joyless and cast down. Fritz, your love for me, makes you unhappy."