of Roland, who
called him, as he had done at their first meeting, "grand-teacher."
There was a deference and a ready submission in his manner, which
filled Eric with delight, when he saw them together. Many a saying of
the noble old man's sank deep into the boy's mind.

"Who would suppose that the long lieutenant and the Professor belonged
to the same race of men?" he once said to Eric.

Eric liked to leave his pupil as much as possible alone with the
Professor, and was gratified by having the latter say to him after a
few days,--

"You have done a good work; the boy has that sensitive pride in him
which we are apt to associate with gentle birth. I should have no fear
of his falling into low or criminal habits; his noble pride would be
repelled by their vulgarity. There is no denying the fact that
self-esteem amounting to pride can become, under proper guidance, a
sure moral principle."

Bella had begun by trying to make a butt of the Professor, but the old
man looked at her with an expression of such childlike compassion, and
at the same time of such mild rebuke, that she soon dropped her tone of
banter, and overlooked the good Professor altogether.

This unpretending and apparently inexperienced man formed, however,
very decided opinions upon all whom he met. Clodwig he perceived to be
a good and noble man. His classical education delighted him
particularly. "Classical education," he said, "is the stone foundation,
which, firmly planted in the ground, is itself invisible, but bears up
the whole building."

The Banker was too uneasy and restless to please him, but he gave him
credit for possessing a characteristic very common among the Jews, that
of gratitude even for intellectual benefits.

Sonnenkamp inspired the Professor with a shrinking awe. He acknowledged
that the feeling was unjust, for the man had always showed great
friendliness towards him, but still he could not conquer it.

He once confessed to Eric that he was afraid of persons who were so
strong; he always felt as if Sonnenkamp would take him up in his arms
like a little child and run away with him. He knew he should never
understand the man's character perfectly; reading characters was
something like deciphering inscriptions on stone; if you cannot make
them out at the first glance, you will succeed no better with hard
study.

Quite a new influence was exerted, however, as Professor Einsiedel
became more intimate with Manna. In Eric's case,