ann," which brings us into the living,
personal presence of the Master of masters. Clodwig represented that
the youth of today no longer had the same veneration for Goethe; and
the Professorin informed him that her deceased husband--she quoted him
repeatedly--had explained this by saying, that the youth of to-day
regarded themselves, first of all, as citizens, and this life as a
citizen, this active influence in the State, had not dawned upon
Goethe, and it was not his sphere.

They again extolled, as in an alternate chant, the influence of Goethe
in enriching and in deepening their life.

Eric and Roland listened in silence; once only, Eric said in a low
tone,--

"Note, Roland, this is glory, this is renown, this is the noblest
good-fortune, for a man to exert such an influence that his spirit
always gives fresh inspiration; that two persons shall sit in after
years, and derive mutual edification from recalling what one who is
dead and gone has been the means of establishing."

Roland looked into the large, gleaming eyes of Eric, who could have
embraced the youth as he said,--

"For once, I am present at your devotions."

Again the two in the saloon spoke, and now Eric heard his name
mentioned, as the Mother said,--

"Eric reads Goethe's poems aloud very well."

He got up at once, and was ready to do it.

Bella, Aunt Claudine, and Herr Sonnenkamp were called in, and Eric read
aloud, but to-day not so well as usual, for there were many things
which might be taken as the embodiment of emotions in his own heart and
in that of Bella.

They sat down to dinner in an elevated frame of mind, as after a
religious service.

Clodwig could not speak often enough of the good-fortune, which had led
the son of one of the guests to become the life-guide of the son of
another.

He plunged deeply into the consideration that one Spirit, who presided
over all, had prepared and fitted the one to impart the highest he
possessed to the other.

He said very naturally, that Manna ought to leave the convent, as no
one could aid her to complete her education more worthily than the
Mother.

Sonnenkamp and the Mother looked at each other in amazement, for
another was expressing their own silent convictions.

Sonnenkamp thanked Clodwig very meekly for the deep interest he felt in
his family, and said that a suggestion of Clodwig's had to him the
weight of a higher command, and he hoped that the Professorin would
receive it as