THE GUARDIAN.
When, on the evening of the same day, Leuthold returned from town, he heard that Ernestine could not see him,--she was not well, and had retired to her room. Slowly and cautiously he sought her study, and there attempted to find what and how much his ward had accomplished during the day. To his astonishment, he found nothing. He slipped into the laboratory, and there lay everything just as it had been left the day before. Nothing had been touched. What did it mean? It was the first day for years that had been passed by Ernestine in idleness. Then, creeping along the corridors with the stealthy step of a cat, he sought Frau Willmers. She, too, was just about going to bed, and looked very sleepy when Leuthold, fixing a searching glance upon her, asked, "What has Fräulein von Hartwich been doing to-day?"
Frau Willmers yawned: she needed an instant for reflection. "Fräulein von Hartwich has been quite unwell to-day," she replied.
"Indeed! what was the matter with her?"
"Why, just what is always the matter, more or less. Heart-beat, faintness, headache. Is it any wonder, considering the way she is always at work? She could hardly hold up her head to-day----"
"Has any one been here?"
"Not a soul: who could----"
"No letters?"
"Two for you, Herr Professor, and one for Fräulein von Hartwich from the schoolmaster."
"What did he want?"