of the nobility in me, and yet one ought to be able to
perceive something."

There was an unusually light-hearted tone in everything she said, and
she continued:--

"Tell me now, how did you feel on the day you laid aside your
nobility?"

"No trace of sorrow; it only pained me when my lady friends assured me
strongly that they would always remain the same to me; and in this very
assurance lay the conviction that it was otherwise; and they were all
the time telling me how they had loved me, as if I were no longer
living, and indeed to many I was already dead, for to them a human
being that has lost the rank of noble, is, as it were, sunk into the
realm of the departed spirits."

The Mother and Manna sat trustfully beside each other; for a time every
sorrow was forgotten, every care, every anxiety.

Eric had left the Mother and Manna alone; he was standing near a
rose-bush and observing how the rose leaves were falling off, so
softly, so quietly, as if plucked by a spirit-hand. He gazed at the
leaves on the ground, he knew not his thoughts. Roland, Manna, his
mother, the terrible past of Sonnenkamp, all was confusion in his mind;
he believed that he no longer saw the world as it is. If he only had
some one to call him to himself. He felt how his cheeks were glowing,
and how he was trembling.

You love and are beloved by this maiden, by the daughter of this man.

What is a daughter?

Every one exists for himself alone.

On the ground floor was his father's library; the windows were open; he
went in.

It entered into his mind that there must be something in the
manuscripts left by his father that would give him consolation and
support; perhaps the spirit of his father would speak to his joyful and
sorrowful perplexity. He began to search amongst the papers; everything
seemed to be ready for his hand that was not wanted. He untied a bundle
of pieces, the superscription of which bore the title, "Sibylline
Books;" he took up a leaf.

"That's the thing!" he exclaimed.

He was standing with his back leaned against the open window; he heard
his mother advising Manna to adhere right steadfastly and faithfully to
her religious convictions. There were, it is true, forms and
observances in it which she did not recognize as her own, but there was
also in it the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, which alone gives us
strength to bear misfortune and sustain joy.

"Mother," he called out, suddenly turning round.

The wome