ried Sonnenkamp.

"She has given him his name," replied Pranken laughing; "she has given
it to him bodily. Sugar is the pony's name, is it not?"

A smile passed over Manna's countenance for the first time, as she
replied,--

"No, we will call him 'Snowdrop.'"

Pranken bade her good-bye with much feeling, and rode away in a smart
trot down the road, making the sparks fly under his horse's hoofs.
Manna saw the groom leading behind him the snow-white pony by the
halter; she would not be perverse, but be moderate in all things. It
seemed to her emblematic, to ride on horseback again, before she
renounced all worldly trifles, and lived wholly in herself and for
eternal realities.

Manna accompanied her father through the park and garden, and through
the conservatories, and thanked him heartily for promising to send to
the convent beautiful flowers, which could thrive well there in the
enclosed courtyard. Sonnenkamp had it in his mind to confide to her the
expected elevation to the rank of the nobility, but he wanted to wait
for a suitable opportunity. The child must not be too suddenly
introduced into the distracting whirl. He observed with satisfaction
the large southern trees and plants, which were soon to be brought out
into the open air. At first they only opened the doors in order to let
in the outside air, and then the plants were brought out into sheltered
situations out-of-doors. So would he do with his child.

Manna had soon made a fixed arrangement for the day's occupations,
which she adhered to as an established rule; and this methodical
strictness soon exerted an influence over the whole family. She found
it difficult to deal with her mother, and chiefly in the matter of
dress; for Frau Ceres, who changed her dress several times a day,
wished Manna to do the same. But she was in the habit of putting on in
the morning the dress which she was to wear all day, and was even
reluctant to accept any service from her own dressing-maid. She kept on
the morning dress, and it seemed to her as the only suitable thing, and
alone worthy of the higher human life, that the nuns never varied their
dress. By this means all distraction and waste of thought on outward
appearance were saved.

She took no part in the beneficent activity of the Professorin. She had
briefly given as a reason, that she had still too much to do for
herself, and was not prepared to do for others.

She had, moreover, a decided antipathy to the as