l Idea. The
Crimean war was undertaken for the purpose of humiliating Russia, and
it brought Russia to the measure of establishing a free peasantry, and
renewing herself in her inner life. These are the great facts of
history, and they are not our doing."

"That is new to me, surprisingly new," interposed the Prince, while
Clodwig continued:--

"The Russian ambassador informed me that during the Crimean war the
rumor was spread--no one knew its origin, and yet it was in all
mouths--that every one who had fought at Sebastopol, or who had
volunteered for the war to deliver the Emperor from the Allies, should
have land given him as a free present at its conclusion. This was a
fixed notion in all brains, and where did it come from? The idea of the
emancipation of the serfs, which had been mooted for a long time in
books and journals and among the higher classes of the community, now
took deep hold of the imagination, and assumed a definite form in the
consciousness of the people, becoming a fact plain as day, that
required only the imperial decree to set its seal upon it."

Clodwig stopped, as if wearied, but he summoned up his strength afresh
and cried:

"This is the old grand saying: 'the swords shall be turned into
ploughshares.'"

The entire company looked at each other with surprise, not
understanding why and how Clodwig had fallen into such a strain; Eric
alone gazed at Clodwig with a beaming countenance. As a hand was placed
upon his shoulder, he looked round, startled. Roland, standing behind
him, said,--

"That is exactly what you once said to me."

"Sit down, and be quiet," said Eric. Roland went to his seat, but he
waited until he caught Eric's eye, and then drank to him.

Bella looked around, as if wanting help to start some subject more
befitting table-talk: she looked at Eric, and nodded to him, as if
beseeching him to divert the conversation from these detestable
matters.

Just then the servants poured out some Johannisberg in delicate pretty
glasses, and Eric said, holding the glass up before him,--

"Herr Count, such wine as this the old nations never drank out of those
stone jars which we have dug up from the ground."

Bella nodded to him cheeringly, but as he said nothing further, she
asked,--

"Have we any precise information about the ancient method of
cultivating the vine?"

"Very little," replied Eric. "The ancients probably had no notion of
this bouquet, this spirit of the wine, fo