Maria blushed again as she said: "Burgomaster Van der Werff is my husband." The nobleman was silent for a short time, then he said quickly: "He received me kindly.

And the pretty elf up yonder ?" "His child by his first marriage, but now mine also.

How do you happen to call her the elf ?" "Because she looks as if she had been born among white flowers in the moonlight, and because the afterglow of the sunrise, from which the elves flee, crimsoned her cheeks when I caught her." "She has already received the name once," said Maria.

"May I take you to my husband ?" "Not now, Frau Van der Werff, for I must attend to my men outside, but to-morrow, if you will allow me." Maria found the dishes smoking on the dining-table.

Her family had waited for her, and, heated by the rapid walk at noon, excited by her unexpected meeting with the young German, she opened the door of the study and called to her husband: "Excuse me! I was detained.