ed,--

"Do you hear, Manna? Do you hear? And will you reject such a nobleman?
Revoke your decision, my child; I will implore you on my knees. See,
how perverted your mind is! I have enough to bear already. Do not heap
this upon me, too. Look at this man! can you refuse such a one? Manna,
you are a sensible, good child. You have only been playing with us; you
have only wished to test us. See, you are smiling. I thank you, I
thank you for this trial. By means of it, you have obtained a fresh
proof of his nobleness. Manna, there he stands. Take him in your arms.
I will gladly die; I will do whatever the world demands: only fulfil
this one request."

"I cannot, father, I cannot."

"You can, and you will."

"Believe me, father"--

"Believe you?--you, who but lately declared with such firmness, 'I will
become a nun!' The infirm of purpose cannot be trusted."

"Father, it pains me unspeakably to be obliged to wound you and Herr
von Pranken thus."

"Well--it is well: I must bear this too. You can cut my heart out; for,
alas! I have a heart. Fie! And is it for this that I have defied the
world, old and new? is it for this that I am thrust out of both,--to
call a hypocritical rascal my son? Oh these philosophers! these
idealists! these humanitarian fanatics! He smuggles himself into my
house as a tutor, in order to marry millions. Oh, most practical
philosophers, and rascally liars and hypocrites, into the bargain! I
will not bear it!"

He bent his fingers like claws, and moved his hands rapidly, crying,--

"Give me something to tear in pieces, or I do not know what I shall do.
You"--

Pranken laid his hand on his shoulder. The three stood facing each
other in silence. All breathed hard, but Pranken the hardest.

Manna endured her father's gaze calmly; but she had no foreboding of
its real meaning. He again called through the speaking tube,--

"Let Herr Dournay come here."

Then he went on.

"Manna, I do not force you; but I desire you to renounce this teacher,
Yet more. Did you not tell me that you had sent word to the priest to
come hither?"

"Certainly: you ordered that he should be summoned."

"I hear him in the ante-room. Admit him."

The Priest entered, and Sonnenkamp addressed him thus:--

"Sir priest, I announce to you, before these witnesses, my resolution
to give my Villa for the foundation of a convent, provided my daughter
Manna, here, takes the veil, as she has always wished to do."

Manna