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Mme Niebuhr, who had long been declining, was grievously changed for the worse by the anxieties of the war. On the 2d of May 1815, her husband received at Berlin news of his father's death; and on the 21st of June, his beloved Amelia followed. The good Mme Hensler, who had taken alarm, was near to soothe her last hours, and to comfort the husband.

"Well, when the invalid and hero of the occasion is ready," Will broke in, his patience at an end, "we should be pleased to read a document, which probably will seem dull and uninteresting to him beside what he has to say " "Oh, Will, please don't talk so much," cried Grace. "If you don't hurry I'll be so sleepy it wouldn't bother me if Adolph Hensler turned out to be the Kaiser himself."

A fearful time it was; yet still Niebuhr could write soothingly to his parents: 'You must not be uneasy: I can earn a living either as a scholar or a merchant; and if I do not succeed in one country, I shall in another. To Mme Hensler also he wrote cheeringly, but under caution, for all letters were unsafe.

From other sources, we learn that he at first became attached to Mme Hensler herself; but being discouraged as a lover, allowed her to introduce him to her younger sister, Amelia Behrens, a beautiful and intellectual woman; and although the attachment he then formed was not sudden or violent, it became very profound.

In Dr Hensler's house he saw frequently Mme Hensler, the widow of the doctor's son. She was six years older than Niebuhr; but to him, unused to female society, and admitted at once into domestic familiarity with a sensible and engaging woman, this disparity was nothing perhaps, indeed, it added to the charm.

Here he became the centre of a circle of the highest minds of Germany. All prized him; all, young and old, felt the benefit of his presence, his labours, and example. He regularly worked at the history of Rome; but he cultivated his garden, taught and played with his children, and built himself a house. The time was not all passed at Bonn; in 1829, the family visited Holstein and Mme Hensler.

The interest of the book is, indeed, principally derived from the private letters of Niebuhr, the greater part of which were addressed to his early friend, Mme Hensler, whose younger sister was his first wife, and her niece his second.

According to this same authority Hensler has proved that the year at the time of Abraham consisted of but three months, that it was afterward extended to eight, and finally in the time of Joseph to twelve.

"It's a letter, and it ought to tell us a number of things we want to know about Mr. Adolph Hensler." "Oh, is that his name?" cried Betty eagerly. "That tells us a good deal without even opening the letter." "It's German enough," agreed Will. "But, gee! I'm sorry we didn't catch the fellow. The government needs him." "But we're so glad you didn't get shot," Amy ventured mildly.

"I remembered Will's special interest in the spy the first time we met Adolph Hensler on Pine Island then how, soon after we saw him here again, Will wrote Grace that he was coming on. That would seem as though he were hot on his trail " "He was," said Allen, while the others hung on every word. "Well, the rest is simple," said Betty.