He had closed them, in order to better call up a vision of Mlle.

Moriaz, and he repeated the words: "It seems absurd; but who can tell?
The fact is, we can know nothing of a surety, and anything may happen." Then he recalled one of Goethe's poems, entitled "Vanitas! vanitatum vanitas!" and he recited several time in German these two lines: "Nun hab' ich mein' Sach' auf nichts gestellt, Und mein gehort die ganze Welt!" This literally signifies, "Now that I no longer count on anything, the whole world is mine." Abel Larinski recited these lines with a purity of accent that would have astonished M.Moses Guldenthal.
M.Moriaz, after wishing his daughter good-night, and imprinting a kiss upon her brow, as was his custom, had retired to his chamber.

He was preparing for bed, when there came a knock at his door.

Opening this, he saw before him a fair-haired youth, who rushed eagerly towards him, seized both his hands, and pressed them with effusion.

M.Moriaz disengaged his hands, and regarded the intruder with a bewildered air.
"How ?" cried the latter.