"Yes, and beside, drawing and painting are such charming
accomplishments, and so useful to a young man in society."

"Playing the piano and singing are still more so," put in Frau Ellrich.

"But dancing most of all," cried Fraulein Ellrich. "Do you dance?"

"No," answered Wilhelm shortly.

The words jarred upon him, and a silence ensued.

The councilor broke this with the question:

"Then you are a doctor of physical science?"

"Yes, sir."

"What is your particular department? Zoology, botany?"

"I have principally studied chemistry and physics, and I think of
devoting myself to the latter."

"Physics, oh yes. A wide and beautiful sphere. So much is included in
it. Electricity, galvanism, magnetism--those are all new faculties very
little known; and as regards submarine telegraph the knowledge cannot
be too useful."

"These sides of the question have not hitherto interested me. I ask of
physics the unlocking of the nature of things. It has not yet given me
the key, but it is something to know on what insecure, weak, and
limited experiments our vaunted knowledge of the existence of the world
of energy, of matter and their properties, depend."

Frau Ellrich looked at him approvingly.

"You speak beautifully, Herr Eynhardt, and it must be a great enjoyment
to hear you lecture."

"You will soon have a professorship, I suppose?" remarked Herr Ellrich,
turning around to the blushing Wilhelm.

"Oh, no!" said he quickly, "I do not aspire to that; I believe in
Faust's verse: 'Ich ziehe... meine Schuler an der Nase herum--Und sehe
dass wir nichts wissen konnen;' and I also bilde mir nicht ein, Ich
konnte was lehren.' I wonder at and envy the men who teach such things
with so much influence and conviction, and I am very grateful to them
for initiating me into their methods and power of working properly. But
there has never been a likelihood of my venturing to approach young men
and saying to them, 'You must work with me for three years earnestly
and diligently, and I will lead you to knowledge, so that at last,
through the contents of a book, you may get a flying glimpse of the
phantom which has so often eluded you.'"

"Your opinions are very interesting," said Herr Ellrich; "but a
professorship is still the one practical goal for a man who studies
physics. Forgive me if I express my meaning bluntly; there is money to
be made in physics through a professorship."

"Happily I am in a position which makes it un