Lori bustled to and fro; Gretchen lighted another
candle, and set them both on the stove, behind
the table. As she did so, my eye was attracted
to the floor, on which the light streamed. It
was uncarpeted; and a number of black-beetles
were running across it, alarmed by the illumination,
no doubt. Now, I have always had an
irrational repugnance to this insect: I am afraid
my face showed it.

"We cannot get rid of the nasty creatures,"
said Gretehcn. "They come out in myriads
from crevices near the stove; but the light
frightens them away."

We sat down. I was very hungry, and fell
to with right good will. Lori kept me in company.
She sat opposite; and whenever I raised
my eyes, I saw the movement of her massive
jaws defined against the candles behind her.
Gretchen sat on my right hand; thus the light,
fell sideways on her face, while that of her
sister was in shadow; and, the table being small,
Gretchen's hand and mine came frequently in
contact. She ate very little; she crumbled and
played with a piece of bread, and seldom allowed
those strange piercing eyes of hers to leave my
face. As supper went on, Lori talked and laughed
a good deal; Gretchen said nothing. She seemed
to grow more and more absorbed in her own
thoughts; and once, when her hand touched
mine, I observed that it shook. She filled up a
tumbler of water, and drank it. Lori pushed
the beer towards me.

"Fill up for yourself——" I drained the
jug into my glass. I raised it to my lip
and began to drink. Suddenly Gretchen uttered
a sharp cry, and started up. In doing so, she
nearly upset the table; and her elbow somehow
came in contact with the glass in my hand.
Its contents were spilt upon the floor.

"Ach! the beetle—the horrid thing!" she
cried." It has gone down my back, I believe!"
She rushed from the room, as white as a sheet.

"Fool!" muttered Lori, setting her jaws
tight. "What waste of good liquor! And
there is no more in the house! I will send her,
for her pains, to go fetch another schoppen."

"Not on my account, I pray. I like water
quite as well. Nay, your 'Bayerische bier'
sometimes disagrees with me."

She looked up sharply into my face.

"Why, what manner of man are you, that
drink water?" she demanded.

"I seldom afford myself anything else," I
replied.

The beer had streamed from the table to the
floor, where it had formed itself into a long
diagonal channel towards the stove. It was
still dripping, which drew my attention, I suppose,
to the boards. The beer had encountered
one or two black-beetles in its course. I had
heard of their fondness for fermented liquors;
it had taken effect very quickly in this case. I
saw them struggle, feebly and more feebly, to
crawl away from the intoxicating flood. Lori's
quick eye discerned what I was looking at.

"The nasty creatures! They soon make
themselves tipsy," she said, as she ran and
fetched a broom. Then she swept them up into
a plate, and carefully wiped the floor.

Gretchen now returned to the room, and
helped her sister to clear away the supper. As
she moved about, I, my hunger being appeased,
noted with a quickened preception what a
supple grandly formed creature this Gretchen
was. The fancy came into my head, that the
White Cat, when transformed, must have
resembled her; fair and lissom, with delicate pink
nostrils and strange bright eyes. In the elder
sister I thought the cat grew akin to the tigress;
her sharp narrow teeth, heavy jaw, and stealthy
cruel eyes, filled me more and more with an
indefinable repulsion. I was glad when she
said:

"I will go see after your bed, young man.
Gretchen will keep you company meanwhile."

I was sitting in the moonlight, near the
window. Gretchen stood beside me.

"You are unlike all the men I have known,"
she said, after she had looked at me, in her
strange way, for some minutes. "Are all
Englishmen like you?"

"Happily for them, I suppose, very few."

"But Englishmen are faithful," she said,
eagerly. "They never deceive, never betray.
I have read about one Englishman in a book.
Could you be true to a woman, without changing
all your life?"

"I should hope so!" I cried, with the
impetuosity of youth. "A man's love is not worth
much otherwise."

She stretched forth her long white hands
and laid them on my shoulders.

"Will you be my love, young Englishman?"
she murmured, in a hoarse tremulous voice.
"I can make you rich. You need toil no more.
I can save you from great dangers, too. I like
your face."

I started up, blushing, for the thing came
upon me suddenly, after all; but I replied,
without hesitation:

"Were I to say I could love you, Fräulein,
I should be false. I have left behind me, in
England, one whom I have long loved, and to
whom my word is pledged. I——"

"Listen," she interrupted, vehemently, but
in a whisper, as though dreading to be
overheard. "I have more in my power than you
know of. Do not reject the love I offer; it
may be the worse for you if you do. I would
save you, young man."

I understood her to refer to my poverty and
her own wealth, as I replied, with a little flourish
of gallantry:

"If my love for another makes me proof
against, your charms, Fräulein, I am not likely
to yield to the temptation of riches. Poverty
and I are well acquainted already. Its dangers
and hardships cannot scare me, for I have
experienced them all."

"There are some dangers you have not
experienced. A comely young fellow may run risks
sometimes that he knows not of."

There was a wild look in her eyes as she
spoke, and her words left a vague uncomfortable