ieked from the open window, as though wishing to inform
all the inhabitants of the arrival of so unusual a guest; for it was
long since Eric had been there. He thought he had discerned the form of
Bella in the room adjoining that at whose open window the parrot hung;
but she did not show herself again.

Entering Clodwig's room, he found him, for the first time, in a state
of despondency. He must also have had some bodily ailment; since he did
not rise, as had always been his wont, greeting his young friend with
as much formality as heartiness.

"I knew that you would come to me," said Clodwig, breathing hard, but
speaking in a mild voice.

"If one spirit can influence another at a distance, you and your mother
must have felt most clearly that I was with you at this time. And now,
if you please, let us talk very quietly, as I am somewhat indisposed.
Let us forget, first of all, that we are starved by intercourse with
that man. I think we ought, in this case, to think of him, and not of
ourselves. See,"--taking up a phial,--"look at this. I take a childish
delight in this new chemical stuff, which looks exactly like clear
water, and yet serves to efface a written word without scratching the
paper at all; and now I am thinking, ought we not to be able to find
some moral agency similar to this?"

Eric, seeing the matter which he had in hand immediately referred to,
laid the plan of the jury before Clodwig, and called upon him to bear
his part in it. Clodwig declined, with the remark that Herr Sonnenkamp,
or whatever his name was, must have a court of his peers,--men of
similar rank, or, rather, of a similar profession with himself. He, for
his part, was no peer of Herr Sonnenkamp, or whatever he called
himself.

Eric reminded his friend, with great caution, of his having dwelt on
the equality of privileges at Heilingthal; but Clodwig seemed to give
no heed to these words.

There must have been a great weight on the soul of this man, usually so
attentive; for, without noticing Eric's reminder, he related how much
he had exerted himself in these latter days for the American, some hot
heads at court having wished to summon him before a tribunal on a
charge of high treason. This idea had been very repulsive to the
Prince, who had written Clodwig a letter with his own hand, thanking
him for having given his counsel against any elevation to the ranks of
the nobility. Clodwig had thereupon advised the Prince to desist from