their life and how they were getting along, and with each
passing day he felt that it would be more difficult to go to Daniel. One
evening he got his courage together and decided to go. He got as far as
AEgydius Place, when he was seized with such a feeling of sadness and
discomfort at the thought of all the changes that time and fate had made
that he turned back. He felt as if he might be deceived by a picture
which would perhaps still show the features of Daniel as he looked in
former years, but that he would be so changed inwardly that words would
be unable to bring the two together.

He longed to talk with some one who loved Daniel and who had followed
his career with pure motives. He had to think for a long while: where
was there such a person? He thought of old Herold and went to him. He
directed the conversation without digression to a point that was of
prime importance to him. And in order to put the old man in as
confidential a frame of mind as possible, he reminded him of a night
when the three of them, Daniel, Herold, and Benda, had sat in the Mohren
Cellar drinking wine and discussing things in general, important and
unimportant, that have a direct bearing on life.

The old man nodded; he recalled the evening. He spoke of Daniel's genius
with a modesty and a deference that made Benda's heart swell. He raised
his finger, and said with a fine fire in his eye: "I'll stand good for
him. I prophesy on the word of the Bible: A star will rise from Jacob."

Then he spoke of Eleanore; he was passionately fond of her. He told how
she had brought him the quartette, and how she had glowed with
inspiration and the desire to help. He also had a good deal to say about
Gertrude, especially with regard to her mental breakdown and her death.

Benda left the old man at once quiet and disquieted. He walked along the
street for a long while, rapt in thought. When he looked up he saw that
he was standing before Daniel's house. He went in.

XIV

Daniel knew that Benda had returned: Philippina had read it in the
newspaper and told him about it. Dorothea, who had learned of his return
from her father, had also spoken to him about it. He had also heard
other people speak of it.

The first time he heard it he was startled. He felt he would have to
flee to his friend of former days. Then he was seized with the same fear
that had come over Benda: Is our relation to each other the same? The
thou