it, except Herr
Dournay and myself."

"Have I said that I was going to decline? You will yet receive one
proof how much confidence I place in you: I have made you one of my
executors."

"I am much older than you." Sonnenkamp made no reply to this remark,
and Weidmann continued,--

"What conclusion have you come to about my request concerning your
son?"

"If he will go with you, he has my consent. Allow me one question. Is
this the expiation you would exact of me, or a part of it?"

Weidmann said it was not.

The carriage in which the Professorin, Roland, and Manna returned, now
entered the court-yard. Weidmann welcomed the Professorin very
cordially, having known her a long time ago. He saw now for the first
time, as a matron, the once blooming beauty. The three brought from
Mattenheim a fresh strength for all that lay before them.

As they were sitting together in the green cottage, a messenger on
horseback came from Clodwig to summon Eric to his side.

Weidmann now renewed the proposal for Roland to go with him to
Mattenheim. Roland was advised by them all to go. Declaring that he
needed no inducement, he readily assented, and drove away with
Weidmann, Prince Valerian, and Knopf. He was protected and sheltered by
such a number of good men.

Mattenheim was situated on the other bank of the Rhine; and, while the
carriage was being ferried across, Roland stood at the stern of the
boat, and gazed in silence for a long time at the parental home. Tears
came into his eyes; but he restrained them.

A tornado swept through the park, eddying around the house; and the
fires just kindled in it were extinguished. The many fire-places were
of no avail, the whole house was full of smoke; and a whirling gust of
wind seemed to tear all the inmates of Villa Eden away from each other.
Roland was gone, Pranken was seen there no more, Manna lived with the
Professorin in the green cottage, and Eric had ridden away. Only
Sonnenkamp and Frau Ceres were there. Fraeulein Perini came, and
informed Sonnenkamp that his wife desired to speak with him instantly:
she was in a state wholly beyond her control.

Sonnenkamp hurried to Frau Ceres' apartment; but she was not there. The
maid said that as soon as Fraeulein Perini had left the room, she had
hurried through the house into the park. They went after her
immediately, calling her by name. They found her, at last, sitting on
the river bank, in the midst of the storm, splendidly dre