ey had gone to rest unreconciled, but the older they grew the
more rarely did this occur, and it was now a long time since any shadow
had fallen on the perfect serenity of their married life.

Three years ago, on the occasion of the marriage of their eldest son,
they had been standing together, looking up at the starry sky,
when Petrus had come close up to her, and had said, "How calmly and
peacefully the wanderers up there follow their roads without jostling or
touching one another! As I walked home alone from the quarries by their
friendly light, I thought of many things. Perhaps there was once a time
when the stars rushed wildly about in confusion, crossing each other's
path, while many a star flew in pieces at the impact. Then the Lord
created man, and love came into the world and filled the heavens and the
earth, and he commanded the stars to be our light by night; then each
began to respect the path of the other, and the stars more rarely came
into collision till even the smallest and swiftest kept to its own path
and its own period, and the shining host above grew to be as harmonious
as it is numberless. Love and a common purpose worked this marvel, for
he who loves another, will do him no injury, and he who is bound to
perfect a work with the help of another, will not hinder nor delay him.
We two have long since found the right road, and if at any time one of
us is inclined to cross the path of the other, we are held back by love
and by our common duty, namely to shed a pure light on the path of our
children."

Dorothea had never forgotten these words, and they came into her mind
now again when Petrus held out his hand to her so warmly; as she laid
hers in it, she said:

"For the sake of dear peace, well and good--but one thing I cannot leave
unsaid. Soft-hearted weakness is not usually your defect, but you will
utterly spoil Polykarp."

"Leave him, let us leave him as he is," cried Petrus, kissing his wife's
brow. "It is strange how we have exchanged parts! Yesterday you were
exhorting me to mildness towards the lad, and to-day--"

"To-day I am severer than you," interrupted Dorothea. "Who, indeed,
could guess that an old graybeard would derogate from the duties of his
office as father and as judge for the sake of a woman's smiling face in
clay--as Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage?"

"And to whom would it occur," asked Petrus, taking up his wife's tone,
"that so tender a mother as you would