first day of your coming among us you told
me, and you have often repeated it since, that Roland had no special
talent that would lead him to the choice of a profession. The remark
offended me at the time, but I see now that it was perfectly true. For
the very reason that Roland is not gifted with genius, he must take
rank among the nobility, have a title, which of itself gives position
and dignity to persons of average capacity, who are not able to carve
out their own career. A nobleman is not sensitive; that is his great
advantage. A baron or an earl is somebody at the start, and is not
obliged to make himself somebody; if, besides that, he has any gifts,
they are all clear gain, and the world is grateful for them. We
commoners must begin by making ourselves something; we are nothing at
the start except sensitive, thin-skinned. Ah, my dear friend, I speak
very confusedly."

"By no means."

"I will say but one thing more. Roland will at some time, and it may be
soon, enter on the possession of millions; if he is a noble, he will
not only stand in the circle of the select, but he will have all the
obligations of honor, of benevolence, of usefulness, and will have them
in a higher degree, because he will be one newly raised to rank. I open
my whole heart to you, my friend--I conceal nothing. Almost the whole
inhabited world is known to me, and shall I tell you what I have found
in it?"

"I should be glad to know."

"Know, then," here Sonnenkamp laid both hands upon Eric's shoulder,
"you are a philosopher, a deep thinker--learn something from me."

"Willingly."

"Let me tell you then, my friend, there are three classes among
mankind, each bound so closely together that no member stands alone. A
man must belong to one of these in this degenerate world."

He paused awhile, and then, in answer to Eric's questioning glance,
continued:--

"Yes, my friend, in this world a man must be either a Jew, a Jesuit, or
a noble. You smile? The idea surprises you? Let me explain. If you
survey the whole world you will find that each one of these three
classes, and only these, forms a firm, lasting, indissoluble union
among its members. My son cannot be a Jew, a Jesuit he shall not be,
therefore he must be a noble."

Eric was fairly bewildered by Sonnenkamp's arguments. He strove to
exercise his own freedom of thought, but he saw how immovably
Sonnenkamp's mind was made up, and looking over the past, he perceived
how everythin