h him, but he would excuse her now in advance, if she
should often suffer a considerable time to intervene between her calls
upon him; he should remain unshaken in the conviction that her inmost
soul continued devoted to the holy faith.

"Now go, my child," he said in conclusion, "and be assured that I shall
pray for you."

Manna had risen; she looked at him earnestly. The inquiry seemed to be
awakened in her own soul: Can, then, one human being pray for another?

The inquiry which Roland had proposed presented itself afresh, and grew
to be the riddle of her life. She desired to sacrifice herself for
another, her whole existence should be only a prayer for another.

How is this possible?

She wanted to ask if it were true, and if true, why it was, that one
human being could do more harm than good to another; that one could lay
a burden upon another soul, but no one could remove that burden. She
wanted to say this to the Priest, and receive some help from him, but
he repeated,--"Now go, my child!" She turned away her inquiring eyes
and went.

On her way home, she stood near a field, watching a laborer who was
busy ploughing, and the thought occurred to her: Yes, one can sacrifice
himself for another, for the souls of men are nothing by themselves;
all that breathe are nothing but a breath of God; all movement in the
earth and in the great world is nothing but the movement of a single
Being.

Everything seemed to swim before her eyes; she saw the peasant
ploughing, she saw the vessels floating upon the Rhine, and the birds
flying in the air. All is one, all is little, the whole is only a
giant's toy.

CHAPTER II.

ONE'S OWN PART IN THE WORLD.

Manna walked dreamily along, but became roused to full consciousness
when the dogs Rose and Thistle sprang up to her, rejoiced to have their
mistress with them again.

"So our wild doe has got home?" cried a voice from a distance; it was
that of the field-guard, Claus, who had the dogs with him. "I mustn't
speak to you now as I used to," he exclaimed. "Hi! how tall you are!
But what are you so sad for? Cheer up! Just see, Fraeulein, all round,
as far down as the rocks there, your father has bought it all."

"Can one buy the earth?" asked Manna, as if waking from a dream.

Claus replied:--

"What do you say? I don't understand you."

"It was of no consequence," answered Manna. Can one buy then the
immovab