that she would soon
be really alone.

CHAPTER X.

A KNIGHT ERRANT.

It was difficult to hunt up Pranken, for he had lost himself when he
left Villa Eden. No man ever walked with a firmer and a prouder step,
while at the same time he was inwardly crushed, than Pranken. It was
something more than external assumption, it was an habitual assurance
that sustained him.

Pranken would have taken it hard if Manna had rejected him in order to
become a nun. But to reject him on account of preference for another,
reject him,--Otto von Pranken!--He was touched to the quick. Otto von
Pranken had been refused; and he was very deeply in love. Can Otto von
Pranken offer love, and not have it reciprocated? If the girl had taken
the veil, and renounced the world, she would have renounced him with
the rest, for he was a part of the world; but to be refused in this
way, and dismissed on account of another man!--. Otto von Pranken
loves, and his suit is not accepted!

"Unprecedented!" He ground his teeth with rage. He never thought of
what he had been guilty of in his life: he only felt his dignity
insulted, his pride mortified, and his love scorned; for he loved
Manna, and wanted to be united to her, and naturally, also, to her
money; then he would be all right, and indulge his passion for handsome
horses.

What should now become of him? For the first time in his life, Pranken
felt a pity for himself: it seemed to him that he was misunderstood,
misappreciated virtue, but, more than all, as if nobleness of bearing
had been insulted, and fidelity rewarded with ingratitude. How great
sacrifices he had made for this family! And now? It appeared to him as
if there were a black funeral-procession passing along in his thoughts:
you cannot crowd through it, you must wait until it has all gone by.

He rode away as if he had been thrust out of the world. Where shall he
turn? To whom shall he complain?

Is Otto von Pranken to complain to a man, to appear in a helpless
condition before any one?

He laughed outright as he now called to mind that he had contracted
large debts, in anticipation of the millions which would certainly be
his. What next?

Involuntarily he turned round once more, and looked back at Villa Eden.

There was only a single line needed, only a brief interview: yes, he
had but to ride back, and represent this to Sonnenkamp, in order to
come away with hu