rception arrives at this idea of the duty
which one must fulfill, and in no hope of the gratification of
individual vanity or self-seeking. Recognition! Does the wind hope for
recognition from the ships it helps to sail? Is it blamed if it dashes
the ship to pieces? It blows, as it must, and is perfectly indifferent
about what men say, and as to its effect on trees, and chimney-pots,
and ships. My brain is now thinking just as the wind blows. There is no
difference between my organism and what goes on in the atmosphere. Both
obey the laws of nature, and I merely fulfill these when I write a
book."

"I quite agree with you," said Wilhelm.

The oysters had been eaten, and some wonderful Markobrunner drunk. The
waiter now brought some Printaniere soup. The conversation halted, as
everyone had involuntarily opened his copy of the book, some of them
perhaps really curious to read, the others out of sympathy for the
writer.

"Please don't read it now," said Dorfling, "the book will be just the
same to-morrow, but the soup will be cold."

"That is the remark of a philosopher," said Barinskoi, and poked his
pointed red nose in the savory steam from his soup.

"It is difficult to tear oneself away," said Schrotter; "it would be
very friendly of you to give an idea of the thoughts at the foundation
of your thesis."

"How could I explain a whole system intelligibly in a few words?" said
Dorfling.

"You could leave out all the proofs and the development, we can read
those presently in your book. You need only just give us the main ideas
of your 'Philosophy of Deliverance.'"

All the guests joined in Schrotter's request, Paul the most eagerly,
for the idea of having to read through that thick, dry book had
frightened him, and now he saw the possibility of knowing its contents
in an agreeable and comfortable way.

Dorfling objected at first, but as his friends insisted he began.

"The phenomenal world, in my opinion, is the foundation of a single
spiritual principle which you can call what you like--strength, final
cause, will, consciousness, God. This eternal principle separates part
of itself from its own being--and this is the soul of mankind. Every
soul perceives clearly that it is a part of an eternal whole; it feels
itself unhappy and uneasy in its fragmentary existence, and yearns to
go back again to the whole from whence it came. Individual life means
removal from that all-embracing whole; individual death is the