His fiancee greatly admired the fiery orator and fighter at
barricades, and told him so, in enthusiastic speeches and letters.
The father, however, had no sympathy with reactionaries, and soon
conceived a violent antipathy for his future single-minded son-in-
law. As long as the democratic party held the upperhand, he kept his
feelings in the background, making nevertheless endless pretexts for
delaying the marriage. The party of reactionaries broke up, however,
and the bookseller declared war; he forbade the young democrat to
enter his house, and even denounced him to the police. The young
lovers were, of course, dreadfully unhappy, and vowed to be true to
one another. He determined to go away, and tried to persuade her to
go with him. She was frightened, but he was audacious and insisted.
They would go to London, and be married there; he could earn his
living, and they would defy the father's curse. All was arranged;
but at the last moment her courage failed, and she confessed all to
the tyrant, who set the police on the young man's track, and sent
the girl away to relations in Brandenburg. The unfortunate lover's
letters were unanswered. He left Germany, and heard after some weeks
that his betrothed was married to a well-to-do jeweler, apparently
without any great coercion.
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