his countenance so beaming with the delight
of beneficence, it was a wonderful sight that can never be forgotten."

Clodwig looked down to the ground; Bella was evidently not aware that
it was not she, but he, who had thus seen Roland and given the order to
the artist.

Roland was very much surprised at the visit, and the manner in which he
was greeted, Bella saying to her husband,--"Clodwig, kiss him for me!"
Clodwig embraced the youth, who now turned to Eric with a puzzled look.

"If the Herr Captain remains with us, you must visit us often, dear
Roland," said Bella.

Sonnenkamp was at a loss to know what that meant, but the danger of
losing Eric seemed immediately to affect the youth, so that he looked
up in a help-imploring way. And it was now clear to Eric, what was
intended in regard to him, and he now for the first time understood
what was interrupted by Sonnenkamp's coming up to the carriage.

They took only a hasty look at the greenhouses, for Bella said that
when it was green and blooming outside, the imprisonment of the plants
had something oppressive to her.

Fraeulein Perini soon appeared, sent by Frau Ceres, to make known her
intention not to be sick to-day.

Bella and Fraeulein Perini had separated themselves from the men; they
had much to say to each other, and Eric was naturally the first
subject. Bella could not forbear expressing her surprise to Fraeulein
Perini, that she had so completely seen through the singular man,
although Fraeulein Perini had not really yet said anything. But this
remark forced her to reply, though nothing of her real opinion was
given; for Fraeulein Perini said that she constantly felt fresh
admiration at the German learned world, meaning to include Bella, who
was to be almost looked upon as a learned woman.

Bella took no notice of this equivocal compliment; she assumed a
matronly tone, while confessing that she had no near relation to the
young men of the day, and was not sure that she understood them.
Neither one of the ladies seemed to come out fully with her opinion,
and each appeared to regard the other as cherishing a secret
inclination for Eric.

"Do you know," said Frau Bella, looking very attentively at the rose
which Sonnenkamp had given her, "do you know that this man with the
double title has an insultingly low opinion of the female sex?"

"No, I did not know that, but it may be a part of that radical heresy,
as Baron von Pranken calls it, which he pa