coffee.

Bertram, Gotzkowsky's head book-keeper, had been commissioned by him
to lead the company, consisting of more than two hundred persons, into
the garden, where Gotzkowsky would follow them, having first gone in
search of his daughter.

With lively conversation and hearty laugh the people retired, the
halls were emptied, and now the deep silence of these state-apartments
was only interrupted by the gentle ticking of the large clock which
stood over the sofa on its handsomely ornamented stand.

When Gotzkowsky found himself at last alone, he breathed as if
relieved. The quiet seemed to do him good. He sank down into one
of the large chairs covered with gold-embroidered velvet, and
gazed earnestly and thoughtfully before him. The expression of his
countenance was anxious, and his large dark eyes were not as clear and
brilliant as usual.

John Gotzkowsky was still a handsome man, despite his fifty years; his
noble intellectual countenance, his tall proud figure, his full
black hair, which, contrary to the custom of that period, he wore
unpowdered, made an imposing and at the same time pleasing impression.

And certainly it was not because of his personal appearance that
Gotzkowsky, notwithstanding the early death of his wife, had never
contracted a second marriage, but had preferred to remain a solitary
widower. Nor did this occur from indifference or coldness of heart,
but solely from the love for that little, helpless, love-needing
being, whose birth had cost his young wife her life, to whom he had