yourself," said Sonnenkamp; "and I almost
regret my purpose of disturbing this beautiful repose. I come from a
life of such confusion as makes it hard to believe that repose like
yours can exist upon the same planet. We live in a perpetual whirl; the
only comfort is that we have still the power of sleeping."

"I am familiar with this excitement of carnival time," said the lady
smiling. "How we long for quiet, and yet are ever pursued by the music
and laughter of the evening before."

Sonnenkamp now openly declared the object of his visit; and with great
humility begged the Frau Professorin to confer upon his house the grace
and dignity which she only could give it.

The lady regretted she must decline; she was no longer fitted for
gaiety.

"I should not have thought your views of life would be gloomy, but
rather free and cheerful."

"I believe they are. I do not consider our life as a dismal charitable
institution, from which all cheerfulness is banished. It is right that
youth should dance, and not think of the people who are shivering with
the cold, and of the grief and misery everywhere, at the very moment
they are moving so gaily. I love cheerfulness; we have no strength
without it."

"Give us your help then; all the more will we devote ourselves
afterward to our poor brothers and sisters of the great human family."

The Professorin had to struggle against a feeling of indignation, that
would rise within her, at the idea of the man trifling thus with words
like these. She looked at his hands as if there was blood upon them,
and these blood-stained hands were offering her festive wine.

She could say no more, she only shook her head, repeating,--

"I cannot; believe me, I cannot."

"Then," began Sonnenkamp, "I shall proceed at once to tell you the
secret of my life."

The Professorin had to put both hands on her table to steady herself.
What was the man going to say! She silently inclined her head, and
Sonnenkamp told how it was his unwavering desire, and a matter of
necessity for his wife, Roland and Manna, that he should be raised to
the ranks of the nobility.

The Professorin shuddered. What? Did this man dare to propose such a
thing? The von Burgholz spirit was roused within her. How could a man
with such a past as his have such presumption?

Sonnenkamp watched her eagerly. Something was going on in the mind of
this woman which he could not fathom. She kept silence, making no
response to the con