onceive
of!--I tell you, lady, for you are a philosopher--that is the hardest and
therefore the grandest idea for human thought to compass. Fix your eye on
that, and in its infinite realm, which must be your future home, you will
meet her again whom you have lost--not her image returned to you, but
herself."

"Cease," interrupted the matron, with impatient sharpness. "I know what
you are aiming at. But to conceive of eternity is the prerogative of the
immortals; our intellect is wrecked in the attempt. Our wings melt like
those of Ikarus, and we fall into the ocean--the ocean of madness, to
which I have often been near enough. You Christians fancy you know all
about eternity, and if you are right in that--But I will not reopen that
old discussion. Give me back my child for a year, a month, a day even, as
she was before murderous disease laid hands on her, and I will make you a
free gift of your cuckoo-cloud-land of eternity, and of the remainder of
my own life on earth into the bargain."

The vehement woman trembled with renewed sorrow, as if shivering with
ague; but as soon as she had recovered her self-command enough to speak
calmly, she exclaimed to the lawyer:

"I do not really wish to vex you, Johannes. I esteem you, and you are
dear to me. But if you wish our friendship to continue, give up these
foolish attempts to teach tortoises to fly. Do all you can for the poor
prisoners; and if you--"

"By daybreak to-morrow I will be with them," Johannes said, and he
hastily took leave.

As soon as they were alone Berenike observed "There he goes, quite
offended, as if I had done him a wrong. That is the way with all these
Christians. They think it their duty to force on others what they
themselves think right, and any one who turns a deaf ear to their
questionable truths they at once set down as narrow-minded, or as hostile
to what is good. Agatha, of whom you were just now speaking, and Zeno her
father, my husband's brother, are Christians. I had hoped that Korinna's
death would have brought the child back to us; I have longed to see her,
and have heard much that is sweet about her: but a common sorrow, which
so often brings divided hearts together, has only widened the gulf
between my husband and his brother. The fault is not on our side. Nay, I
was rejoiced when, a few hours after the worst was over, a letter from
Zeno informed me that he and his daughter would come to see us the same
evening. But the letter itse