-"How
almost palpable is this dark; yet a ray from above would dispel it."
"Ay," said Wieland, with fervor, "not only the physical, but moral night
would be dispelled." "But why," said I, "must the Divine Will address
its precepts to the eye?" He smiled significantly. "True," said he, "the
understanding has other avenues." "You have never," said I, approaching
nearer to the point--"you have never told me in what way you considered
the late extraordinary incident." "There is no determinate way in which
the subject can be viewed. Here is an effect, but the cause is utterly
inscrutable. To suppose a deception will not do. Such is possible, but
there are twenty other suppositions more probable. They must all be set
aside before we reach that point." "What are these twenty suppositions?"
"It is needless to mention them. They are only less improbable than
Pleyel's. Time may convert one of them into certainty. Till then it is
useless to expatiate on them."

Chapter V

Some time had elapsed when there happened another occurrence, still more
remarkable. Pleyel, on his return from Europe, brought information of
considerable importance to my brother. My ancestors were noble Saxons,
and possessed large domains in Lusatia. The Prussian wars had destroyed
those persons whose right to these estates precluded my brother's.
Pleyel had been exact in his inquiries, and had discovered that, by the
law of male-primogeniture, my brother's claims were superior to those
of any other person now living. Nothing was wanting but his presence in
that country, and a legal application to establish this claim.

Pleyel strenuously recommended this measure. The advantages he thought
attending it were numerous, and it would argue the utmost folly to
neglect them. Contrary to his expectation he found my brother averse
to the scheme. Slight efforts, he, at first, thought would subdue his
reluctance; but he found this aversion by no means slight. The interest
that he took in the happiness of his friend and his sister, and his own
partiality to the Saxon soil, from which he had likewise sprung, and
where he had spent several years of his youth, made him redouble his
exertions to win Wieland's consent. For this end he employed every
argument that his invention could suggest. He painted, in attractive
colours, the state of manners and government in that country, the
security of civil rights, and the freedom of religious sentiments. He
dwelt on the pri