ot a syllable more should seem to put her in a doubtful position.
The whole thing was nothing but a school-girl fancy of the Justice's
silly daughter, Lina. Manna's radiant being should not be dimmed by the
least cloud of suspicion, for she was pure, and great, and noble.
Pranken felt himself her knight, the defender of innocence, and he was
noble enough to extend his defence to Eric, who was blameless in this
respect: honorable feeling and elevated sentiment required that he
should do him justice. Fraeulein Perini watched Pranken's noble ardor
with surprise, as he continued:--

"From this moment let us forget Lina's childish fancy; neither you, nor
I, nor my sister, nor Herr Sonnenkamp, who fortunately knows nothing of
it, you say, will ever cherish a thought of it again."

Fraeulein Perini, instead of being hurt, was quite happy at this
greatness of mind and acuteness in Pranken; she was modest enough to
make a jest at the petty ideas of women. With great tact she declared
that this was now the true knight's service, for the ground on which
the tournament was held in our days was higher than of old.

Fraeulein Perini would, on no consideration, come into collision with
Pranken, knowing what power she would thereby put out of her hands.
Pranken left her, with calm self-satisfaction, to go to Herr
Sonnenkamp: he was almost ready to defend Eric since he was already set
aside. With great peace of mind he laid his hand on the book in his
breast pocket; the man who spoke in it would be content with him.

CHAPTER VIII.

BALAAM.

Pranken found the Justice and Sonnenkamp engaged in general
conversation; the greeting between him and the master of the house was
very cordial, and he seated himself astride on a chair.

"I will tell you, honored friend," began Pranken,--he liked to call
Sonnenkamp "honored friend" before people,--"I will tell you, by and
by, about my journey. Now, let me congratulate you on having apparently
found the right man for our Roland."

Herr Sonnenkamp answered that he should hardly keep the Chevalier; he
was only in the house on trial. Something seemed to tell him that the
highly cultivated Swiss would lead Roland's disposition too much
towards the clergy and the church. Eric was exactly the man whom he
should like the best.

Pranken looked around, as if to make sure whether the enemy was taking
up a new position, and said,--