ntinue to sin through a whole,
long lifetime. I have been permitted to trifle with love unpunished so
often, that at last I have learnt to under-estimate its power. I could
laugh as I sacrificed mine to my mother's wishes; but that, and that
alone, has given rise to all these horrors. But no, all is not yet lost!
Paula will listen to me; and when she sees what my inmost feelings
are--when I have confessed all to her, good and evil alike--when she
knows that my heart did but wander, and has returned to her who has
taught me that love is no jest, but solemn earnest, swaying all mankind,
she will come round--everything will come right."

A noble and rapturous light came into his face, and as he walked on, his
hopes rose:

"When she is mine I know that everything good in me that I have inherited
from my forefathers will blossom forth. When my mother called me to my
father's bed-side, she said: 'Come, Orion, life is earnest for you and me
and all our house, your father. . .' Yes, it is earnest indeed, however
all this may end! To win Paula, to conciliate her, to bring her near to
me, to have her by my side and do something great, something worthy of
her--this is such a purpose in life as I need! With her, only with her I
know I could achieve it; without her, or with that gilded toy Katharina,
old age will bring me nothing but satiety, sobering and regrets--or, to
call it by its Christian designation: bitter repentance. As Antaeus
renewed his strength by contact with mother earth, so, father do I feel
myself grow taller when I only think of her. She is salvation and honor;
the other is ruin and misery in the future. My poor, dear Father, you
will, you must survive this stroke to see the fulfilment of all your
joyful hopes of your son. You always loved Paula; perhaps you may be the
one to appease her and bring her back to me; and how dear will she be to
you, and, God willing, to my mother, too, when you see her reigning by my
side an ornament to this house, to this city, to this country--reigning
like a queen, your son's redeeming and guardian angel!"

Uplifted, carried away by these thoughts, he had reached the viridarium.
He there found Sebek the steward waiting for his young master: "My lord
is asleep now," he whispered, "as the physician foretold, but his
face. . . . Oh, if only we had Philippus here again!"

"Have you sent the chariot with the fast horses to the Convent of St.
Cecilia?" asked Orion eagerly; and when Se