Oh! my head was fairly crazed with this man, until I brought
myself to the point of being able to forget him!"

Weidmann spoke on uninterruptedly, as if he did not wish these sad
thoughts to settle down upon him.

Soon Eric raised his head and besought him:--

"Tell me all."

"Yes, you shall know all,--ah, what is all? You have heard of the fate
of Captain Brown at Harper's Ferry?"

"Certainly. Was Herr Sonnenkamp there too?"

"He was a ringleader."

Eric related how Roland at one time in his fever dreams shouted, "John
Brown is hanging on the gallows!"

The more he spoke of Roland, the more feelingly his voice trembled, and
at last hot tears burst from his eyes. He apologized for this weakness
before Weidmann, who said:--

"Your tears consecrate you in my eyes forever; you shall find in me a
friend whom you may call upon at any time and in any situation of life.
Whatever is in my power is yours, your deeds shall be mine. You are not
weak, you are strong, you must be; and it is a noble vocation for you
to be placed as you are at the side of such a youth, with such a fatal
inheritance."

Eric Stood up and drew a long deep breath; the two men held fast each
other's hands, and laying his left on his heart, Eric said:--

"I hope that I shall show myself worthy of your appeal."

"I knew this, and it is better, as I said, that you have learned the
thing from me. There's no doubt about the matter, depend upon it."

For a long while not a word was spoken. Eric had called out Manna's
name with Roland's and his mother's. Now, for the first time, in the
deepest sorrow, it broke upon him fully, that he loved Manna; and with
a sense of satisfaction the thought shot through his soul that he had
not yet spoken to her a word of love.

Terrified at this selfishness he started up.

How could he think of himself, and not of her hard fate? He grieved for
her, above all, that she should be the daughter of such a man.

How will she bear it? And did she know it perhaps already? Was this the
cause of her secluded life, of the eagerness to sacrifice herself and
take the veil?

"Don't lose yourself in thoughts and anxious speculations," said
Weidmann admonishingly.

Eric did not dare to speak of Manna; he merely asked Weidmann whether
he thought he ought to communicate this information to his mother; for
it was doubly agonizing to have involved his mother in such a
connection.

Weidmann said that he well knew what a frig