to give you
a good many lessons."

Pranken declared himself ready to learn a great deal, but inwardly he
had an inexpressible dread of this man, and this dread changed into
contempt. He proposed to himself, if he ever married Manna, to keep
away from this man as far as possible.

Sonnenkamp was so happy in finding a fresh confirmation of his
knowledge of men, that he endeavored to impart it to his own son.

The next morning, as they were leaving the breakfast-table, at which
the Cabinetsraethin had been present, he took Roland with him into the
park, saying to him,--

"Look, these noble people! All a pure cheat! This Cabinetsrath and his
family, they are beggars, and I make them persons of property. Don't
let it out, but you ought to know it. They are all a rabble; great and
small, high and low, they are all waiting to have an offer for their
souls as they call them. Every one in the world is to be had for
money."

He took delight in dwelling upon this at length; he had not the
remotest conception what a deep commotion and revolution this was
exciting in the youth's soul.

Roland sat speechless, and Sonnenkamp turned over in his mind
whether he had acted properly, but soon quieted his doubts. Religion,
virtue, all is an illusion. Some--this Herr Dournay is one of that
number--still believe in their illusions, and impose upon themselves
and upon the world. It is better, he quieted himself in conclusion,
that Roland should know all to be a mere illusion.

CHAPTER IV.

A DIFFERENT ATMOSPHERE.

After the first days, the Mother understood what her son meant when he
complained of the difficulty of maintaining a steady and firm hold upon
thought, in the midst of the distractions with which he had to contend,
like those upon a journey. In such a house as this, with extensive
possessions and a great variety of duties, that devotion of the mind,
which is so necessary for the thorough acquisition of any branch of
knowledge, is continually interfered with, and it is even difficult, in
such relations, not to lose one's self. Without laying out any
programme, at any rate without any announcement of one, she resolved to
regulate her own method of living; only when one possesses himself can
he have anything to supply to the calls of others.

Eric and Roland went every day to bid her good-morning, and a
consecrated sphere soon encompassed the mother; whoever appr