danger escaped, escaped by one's own effort. Whenever Eric thought of
the days at Wolfsgarten, and his trifling with those feelings which
should be the finest of the human heart, he seemed to himself a thief.
He had recklessly staked the entire capital which he had so laboriously
won; he had allowed himself, under a pretended interchange of noble
thoughts, to toy with Bella: to flirt, as he called it in plain
language, with Clodwig's wife. To his mind, he had violated a
sanctuary; how small, how infinitely small in comparison, seemed the
offence of these poor people! He felt deeply humbled in his own eyes.
How gladly would he have made a pilgrimage with Roland to some temple
where he could purify himself, and where Roland could gain new
strength! Whither should he turn?

It is easier for one wearied in the exciting race of life, and burdened
in conscience, to enter into the invisible temple built with hands than
into the visible temple of science; yet Eric succeeded in doing this.
What he would with difficulty have accomplished for himself, perhaps
would have failed to accomplish, he did from duty to another. He lost
himself in the love of knowledge, and everything became clearer and
more intelligible. As an experienced swimmer delights in the onward
rush of the waves, dives below the surface to rise again to the light,
and with vigorous arms divides the waters; so Eric plunged into
science, and felt his heart swell with joy when the mighty waves roared
towards him. Gone were all petty fears and anxieties, all self-contest.

In Roland, too, deep currents were stirred. He often went about as in a
dream. The ground beneath him, which he now knew to be in constant
motion, swam before his eyes: the heavens were no longer there; the old
world was dissolved and a new one revealed; while mingling with all
this new life within him was the thought that all private property
would be abolished, and poverty and riches divided equally among men.
Eric observed this excitement in the mind of his pupil. Roland said to
him one day timidly,--

"Tell me, Eric, if there will ever come to be no more private property
in the world, and consequently no more thieves."

Eric was startled to see how this strange idea had taken hold of the
boy. He explained that he had only brought that up as an illustration;
the thing itself was an impossibility; he had only meant to show what a
radical change might be worked in the minds and lives of men.