htful thing it must be to
eat this man's bread, to drink his wine, to receive services at his
hand. But he impressed upon Eric the necessity of sparing his mother
the recital as long as possible, since he needed her sorely as a stay
for Frau Ceres and Manna. Yes, Weidmann called it a rare piece of good
fortune to have at one's side, aiding and supporting, a woman so noble,
and so tried in the battle of life.

It was long after midnight when Eric left his host.

He went to his room; he saw that Roland was asleep, and a silent vow
rose to his lips, as he gazed upon the handsome, sleeping boy.

Eric wandered restless through the house and through the woods; meteors
darted hither and thither through the sky; in the distance glistened
the waves of the Rhine; a dewy atmosphere lay upon the whole earth;
Eric found no rest, nay, he found hardly a moment's meditation. What
should he, what could he do?

Morning began to glimmer; he returned to the courtyard.

Here everything was full of life.

He first fell in with Knopf, who said to him:--

"I haven't slept a wink the whole night on your account. Ah, that
question of yours! Theoretically it cannot be solved, since all the
real relations of life are made up not of whole numbers, but of
fractions only, and can only be expressed in fractions. So the total
also cannot be expressed in one whole number. I can't make out, and it
turns my head to think of what I should do if I were possessed of many
millions. To found benevolent institutions, that is hardly enough; the
whole world shouldn't be a vast almshouse, a piously endowed
establishment. I would have joy and beauty everywhere; men should be
not only fed and clothed, they should also be happy. In the first
place, I would found in every town a good salary for the teacher who
leads the singing-club, and a pint of wine for every member on
Sunday; and I would build a concert-hall in every town, with lofty
summer-saloons, and well-heated rooms in winter, ornamented with
beautiful paintings; and in them should be hung up the prizes gained by
the club.

"I would also erect an institute for poor children, and make myself
director of it; and then I would found a refuge for deserving tutors. I
have even fixed on the name it should go by,--'The Home for Eventide.'
Oh, that will be magnificent; how the old teachers will wrangle and
each extol his system as the best! I have also decided to let the
principal lie, and take a million fro