addressed as Professor, wrote all these names. The man
remembered being struck by it at the time.

Sonnenkamp at once concluded that the man who had written the names
could be no other than Professor Crutius. The names were those of the
leaders of the slave party in the Southern States. It was out of the
question that these men had been there themselves; but what meant this
reminder of them?

The matter disturbed Sonnenkamp for a while, but he finally succeeded
in dismissing it from his mind.

"Your old enemy," he said almost aloud to himself, "has come back, and
that is nothing but your unhappy brooding imagination."

Eric himself had no greater pleasure in embracing his mother again,
than Roland and Manna felt.

"You and Aunt Claudine," cried Roland, "are dearer to me than all the
trees in the park, the house, and everything else. You too have been
staying here faithfully, waiting for us to come home. How good it is to
have you here, that we may have some one to receive us when we come
back!"

The boy's whole heart swelled with inward happiness.

Manna said nothing, but her look showed how deeply she felt the
peaceful influence of the two ladies. She found in this little home
some of the rest she had found in the convent, and yet here no outward
vows had been taken; these two women were completely free. By little
and little, she told the mother about Professor Einsiedel, and rejoiced
her by showing her appreciation of the deep consecration of spirit to
which this student of science had attained.

Sonnenkamp was more thoughtful than ever. This striving after a title
seemed to him a loss of independence, a loss that he was voluntarily
incurring. He returned from the Baths with the impression, that he
should be always treated by the nobles themselves as a stranger and an
interloper, and would always have to be on his guard against
misconstruction of his smallest actions. The words of the Banker rang
in his ears: Every one should hold fast to the distinction of being a
self-made man.

Was it not better that a man should be the source of his own honor,
than that he should allow it to be conferred upon him by another?

Here he was brought up before an insurmountable wall. He was vexed at
having to worry and brood so over the matter, yet he could not dismiss
it from his mind. He had just come to the resolution of begging the
Cabinetsrath to give it all up, when he received a letter from him,
saying that the matt