full of indignation. He listened in silence, but with dilating eye, as
Eric described the emptiness of all worldly honors if we have not a
consciousness of self-respect within us; for they make us dependent
upon others, and such dependence was the most abject slavery.

At the word slavery, Roland rose and asked Eric if he had forgotten his
promise of telling him how different nations dealt with slavery. Eric
was amazed that the subject should have dwelt in the boy's mind through
all the excitement he had undergone, and promised to give him the
history of the whole matter, as far as he was able, when they should
return to Villa Eden.

Sonnenkamp had great difficulty in concealing his sense of injury, yet
he must not give additional weight to the slight that had been put upon
him by allowing his feelings to appear. The family of the
Cabinetsraethin he took especial pains to load with friendly attentions.
They must be made to keep to their bargain; they had had their pay, and
were not to be allowed to cheat him. He made the young cadet a spy upon
his son, giving him money for taking Roland to the gaming-table,
tempting him to high play, and then making an exact report of his
behavior. He was not a little surprised at the cadet's reporting that
Roland utterly refused to play, because he had promised Eric never to
gamble, even for an apparently trifling stake.

Sonnenkamp would have liked to thank Eric for this great influence over
his son, but judged it best to feign ignorance of the whole matter. He
begged Bella, when she came for Eric to fulfil his promise and take her
to the cabinet of antique casts, not to disturb his wife's present
tranquillity by referring to the court-ball.

Eric took Roland with them to the museum, and though Bella said
nothing, she understood his motive for doing so. On their way thither
they met the Russian prince, and Bella ordered the carriage to stop and
invited him to accompany them, thinking that thus the party could
divide into two groups, the Russian walking sometimes with Roland, and
she with Eric; but she could not manage it so; Eric did not once let go
of Roland's hand.

They stood long before the group of Niobe and her children, Bella
jokingly protesting that the teacher, who seeks to protect the boy from
the arrow of the god, was of the Russian type. Eric might explain as
often as he would that the head was a modern addition and represented a
Scythian, that the teacher was a slav