"They were children of two kings,
Who loved each other dearly;
They could not be united,
For the deep sea rolled between."
--GERMAN.
Wulf's landlady entered his room. "Here's a letter, and here's a
paper for you."
Wulf seized the letter. Why? It was his own letter which he had
posted two weeks previously to his uncle. Upon the outside was
stamped: "Person addressed dead; opened by official authority and
returned to writer."
"Dead! my good uncle dead! and I was not there to close his eyes!
Alone, all alone! The old man dead! he who has done so much for me!
Dead, now when I need him so much!"
Deeply moved, Wulf pressed his head between his hands, while hot
tears streamed from his eyes. But suddenly the tears ceased, and his
eyes became motionless and staring. Their glance had mechanically
rested upon a name in the paper lying before him. In one column
stood two notices. The first read:
"United in the holy bonds of matrimony, EDWARD BOLTON, leather
merchant of Larkow, and SIBYLLA VON HERBIG."
The second read:
"Departed this life, at three o'clock A.M., Lady Von Herbig, widow of
Colonel M. Von Herbig. This announcement is made in deep sorrow, to
her friends and acquaintances by her children,
"EDWARD BOLTON,
"SIBYLLA BOLTON, _née_ Von Herbig."
Three death notices!