Palais Greifmann;
had even confessed his preference for Louise, and had, for the first
time in his life, incurred his father's displeasure by mentioning the
wager. And when he concluded by protesting that he could not marry
Louise, Conrad's suppressed anger burst forth.

"Have you lost your senses, foolish boy? This marriage has been in
contemplation for years; it has been coolly weighed and calculated. In
all the country around, it is the only equal match possible. Louise's
dower amounts to one million florins, the exact value of the noble
estate of Hatzfurth, adjoining our possessions. You young people can
occupy the chateau, I shall add another hundred acres to the land,
together with a complete outfit of farming implements, and then you
will have such a start as no ten proprietors in Germany can boast of."

Seraphin knew his father. All the old gentleman's thought and effort
was concentrated on the management of his extensive possessions. For
other subjects there was no room in the head and heart of the
landholder. He barely complied with his religious duties. It is true,
on Sundays Mr. Conrad attended church, but surrounded invariably by a
motley swarm of worldly cares and speculations connected with farming.
At Easter, he went to the sacraments, but usually among the last, and
after being repeatedly reminded by his wife. He took no interest in
progress, humanity, ultramontanism, and such other questions as vex the
age, because to trouble himself about them would have interfered with
his main purpose. He knew only his fields and woodlands--and God, in so
far as his providence blessed him with bountiful harvests.

"What is the good of millions, father, if the very fundamental
conditions of matrimonial peace are wanting?"

"What fundamental conditions?"

"Louise believes neither in God nor in revelation. She is an infidel."

"And you are a fanatic--a fanatic because of your one-sided education.
Your mother has trained you as priests and monks are trained. During
your childhood piety was very useful; it served as the prop to the
young tree, causing it to grow up straight and develop itself into a
vigorous stem. But you are now full-grown, and life makes other demands
on the man than on the boy; therefore, with your fanaticism.

"To my dying hour I shall thank my mother for the care she has bestowed
on the child, the boy, and the young man. If her pious spirit has given
a right direction to my career, and watche