Sonnenkamp returned thanks in her behalf from the outside steps,
and expressed his regret that his wife, on account of illness, could
not be present. He begged them to be as quiet as possible, for she was
very sensitive. A damper was thus put upon the merriment, and Eric led
the men back to the boats. They took their departure, the cannons
roared, the music struck up, and then all was again still at the villa.

They sat in a friendly circle in the grand saloon, and Sonnenkamp
looked more used up than he had ever been before; his features lighted
up, however, when the Major, who had a happy thought, said,--

"This must all be reported by a good hand in the newspaper! You,
Comrade," turning to Eric, "you will certainly do it up finely. Not a
word; you must."

Eric explained that he had no intention of refusing; he had only wanted
to do of his own accord what the Major had suggested. The Major gave
him a violent grip of the hand, and did not drop it until Eric said,--

"If you squeeze my hand any longer, I shall not be able to write
to-morrow."

The Major went to Eric's mother, and commended him for having sung with
the people; he only regretted that Fraeulein Milch had not been a
spectator of the beautiful celebration, but she was stiff-necked in
regard to everything connected with the Sonnenkamp house. He could not
imagine why it was; she was in every other respect so kind towards
everybody.

The Professorin knew why Fraeulein Milch stayed away, and it gave her a
severe twinge, that she herself had to be present, and that her son was
to proclaim the fame of this man, who, in all that he did, had an
entirely different end in view from what Eric imagined. She looked at
the man, at his children, and at the whole company, and could not help
thinking how it would be, if, instead of these salutes of cannon in his
honor that now echoed in the night, a wholly different report should be
heard over mountain and valley.

The company at last departed. Roland and Eric accompanied the Mother
home. Roland was brimful of joy over this tribute of universal respect,
and Eric took care to impress upon him again how great a happiness it
was, to be able so to make other people happy. Roland spoke of the
intention of his father to set out walnut trees throughout the whole
region, and complained that he himself seemed to be like Alexander of
Macedon, who found fault with his father, Philip, for leaving nothing
for him to do. The Mother