she took her leave.

Bella rushed triumphantly back to the villa across the meadow-path, got
into the carriage, which was standing ready in the yard, and returned
to Wolfsgarten.

Her passion for destruction was sated, and she felt relieved, and in
good spirits.

BOOK XII.

CHAPTER I.

THE NIGHT BEFORE THE EXECUTION.

On the journey to the capital, Sonnenkamp and Pranken were astonished
at Roland's fluency and mental activity; he was the only one who
expressed himself freely, for both Sonnenkamp and Pranken could not
entirely repress a feeling of anxiety. They appeared to be so
confidential and open with each other, and yet Sonnenkamp was
continually asking himself: Do you know it? and Pranken, on the other
hand: Do you know that I know it?

But neither of them spoke out. How were they to do it? Pranken wanted,
when the revelation took place, to appear as the innocent, the
ignorant, the deluded individual; he had been imposed upon, he as well
as the rest of the world, and more than all, the Prince himself. The
Prince had conferred the title of nobility--how was Pranken to do
otherwise than confide in the man!

Sonnenkamp on the contrary was undecided, and he was glad that Pranken
was determining everything; it was no longer a question of will, all
was settled and must proceed.

He looked through the coach-door every now and then, and put out his
hand, as if he were going to lay hold of the handle, spring out and
flee. What a bold game it was he was trying his hand at! He was angry
with himself that, close upon the last critical moment, he allowed a
feeling of apprehension to come over him. He could not help declaring
to Pranken that he felt very much excited. Pranken thought this quite
natural, for elevation to the nobility is no small affair. And now, in
the conversation that took place, Sonnenkamp discovered the cause of
his timidity. Those Huguenots, mother, aunt, and son, with their
double-distilled transcendental notions, had brought around him an
element of weakness; it would be as well to throw them aside, politely,
of course, but they must go their way, like instruments that have done
their work, like paid-off workmen.

In this thought of casting something from him, there was a sense of
power which restored him to himself once more.

It was not merely allowing others to act for him, he was an active
a