beautiful to see.

``I came to release you,'' said Otto.

``I've got nothing left--and a lot of debts. I--''

``Yes--I know,'' interrupted Hilda. She went up to him and put
her arm round his neck. ``We'll have to begin at the bottom,''
she said with a gentle, cheerful smile.

Brauner pretended that he heard some one calling him from the
shop. ``Yes right away!'' he shouted. And when he was alone in
the shop he wiped his eyes, not before a large tear had blistered
the top sheet of a pile of wrapping paper.

``I know you don't care for me as--as'' --Otto was standing
uneasily, his eyes down and his face red. ``It was hard enough
for you before. Now--I couldn't let you do it--dear.''

``You can't get rid of me so easily,'' she said. ``I know I'm
getting along and I won't be an old maid.''

He paid no attention to her raillery. ``I haven't got anything
to ask you to share,'' he went on. ``I've been working ever
since I was eleven--and that's fourteen years--to get what I had.
And it's all gone. It'll take several years to pay off my debts,
and mother must be supported. No--I've got to give it up.''

``Won't you marry me, Otto?'' She put her arms round his neck.