ly to his wife, placed his hand upon her shoulder, crying,--

"Ceres, be quiet."

The lady turned round, glared at him with glowing eyes, then sprang up,
tore open the garment on his breast, shrieking,--

"My son! give me my son, you--"

Sonnenkamp held his broad hand over her mouth; she tried to bite him,
but he kept her mouth closed, and she was still.

Sonnenkamp requested the priest and Fraeulein Perini to leave his wife;
Fraeulein Perini hesitated, but a wave of his hand gave her decided
orders to go. She and the Ecclesiastic left the room. Now Sonnenkamp
took Frau Ceres up in his arms, as if she were a child; carried her in
to her chamber, and laid her upon the bed. Her feet were cold, and he
wrapped a cloth around them in such a manner, that they were firmly
bound. After a while, Frau Ceres slept, or only pretended to be asleep;
it was the same either way. He went out into the balcony-chamber, where
the Ecclesiastic, the Major, and Fraeulein Perini were sitting together.
He urged the priest to betake himself to rest, thanking him very
warmly; he said the same to Fraeulein Perini, with an odd mingling of
courteousness and authoritativeness in his manner; he requested the
Major to stay with him.

For an hour he sat with the Major at the open balcony-door, looking up
at the starry heaven and listening to the rushing river; then he
requested the Major to go to bed; the day would enable them to proceed
quietly on sure ground. He himself lay down in the ante-chamber to his
wife's room; he went again softly to her bed, shading the light with
his hand; she was sleeping quietly, with burning cheeks.

All was still at the villa. Sonnenkamp was waked up when the messenger
returned from Wolfsgarten; they knew nothing of Roland there.

"Is Herr von Pranken coming?" asked Sonnenkamp. The messenger did not
know.

Sonnenkamp was very weary, and exhausted from want of sleep, but he
could not rest; he stood at the balcony and listened to the singing of
the birds and the rushing of the river; he saw the sun rise in the
heavens, he heard the clocks strike; the whole world, so fresh and
beautiful, seemed to him a chaos. His daughter at the convent, and his
wife ready, at any moment, to testify the most horrible things against
him, and his son disappeared, leaving no trace! Perhaps his corpse is
floating yonder in the water! It seemed to Sonnenkamp, for a moment, as
if he must throw himself headlong from the balcony, and put