hey themselves? Hundreds of
occupations are constantly hanging on the verge of crime. Yes, the old
theology teaches me that as Sodom might in old times have stood, if
only just so many righteous men were to be found in it, so it is
to-day. The sun shines only for the few just men; and in every human
being there is a complete Sodom; but there is also in him something of
righteousness, and because of that he continues to live."

Eric and the Prince looked in surprise at the Doctor, who in they had
never before really known. Within, in the next room, Roland had seized
hold of his forehead, as if questioning whether he comprehended all
this, and in what it would all end.

The Doctor seemed to enjoy his triumph, or rather the perplexity he had
caused, and he exclaimed in a loud voice, louder even than before,--

"For all that, I have for this Herr Sonnenkamp great respect."

He paused, and then continued:--

"This Herr Sonnenkamp, or, for aught I care, Banfield, has kept pretty
stiff, he has not bowed down before the priesthood; if he had, this
would have been covered up. That he has not done so, shows power; and,
besides, I think I have kept myself free from the sentimental epidemic.
These niggers are not my fellow creatures; human beings of a black
complexion have no high destiny; from their whole physical
conformation, they belong out in the heat of the sun, at hard work.
Slavery is not such a bad thing, after all; we would not find it ill,
if we, too, had slaves for servants. When serving people know that
their place is to serve and that they can not play the master, they are
more faithful in their work, and one can take better care of them.
And I have many a time thought to myself how it would be, if my
men-servants and maid-servants were all at once transformed into
Africans; it would be a surprise, but one would have to get reconciled
to it. I am loth to accept these darkies as my brothers. And can you
think of a negro as a painter? A nigger cannot even see himself in the
looking-glass. And can you picture to yourself a nigger statesman, a
nigger professor?"

Eric was full of indignation at all this, but he had to listen to it;
there was no chance for him to say anything, as the Doctor cried out in
a still louder voice,--

"Don't let Roland fall into sentimentality. You, as philologist, must
know the story of that--wasn't it a Roman emperor?--who had made a
great deal of money by the slave-trade, and whose son