le tenderness.

Sonnenkamp rose suddenly, as if some irresistible power had called to
him, and there was deep feeling in his voice, as he said,--

"Might I be allowed, noble lady, to offer you a compensation, if you
will be induced to live in our neighborhood? I am no prince, but I am,
perhaps, as much overrun with begging letters. Our good Major
frequently helps me in instituting inquiries. But you, honored lady,
could render much more effectual service in this matter; and even if
one cannot render assistance in every case, it is always a consolation
to the poor to receive at least a friendly answer, and your look is
radiant with a mother's blessing."

It was an hour in which Sonnenkamp experienced a blessedness such as he
thought himself wholly incapable of receiving, and his fixed purpose
was,--

"This must be; here is the starting-point in life which you have so
long desired, and all the past is annihilated."

Sonnenkamp had formed an entirely different notion of the professor's
widow and her sister-in-law. He saw in Eric's mother a stately lady of
fine mind and high-bred manners; she was pale, and this paleness was
very much increased by her black cap and her mourning dress.

The aunt seemed to him still handsomer.

It was a peculiar gesture that Sonnenkamp made in the air; it was as if
he seized hold of the two ladies: for he mentally transplanted them to
his splendid rooms, where they did the honors of the house, adorning
his house, and his house adorning them, and when company were present a
whist-table was formed, as a matter of course.

Sonnenkamp was obliged to restrain himself from asking the ladies at
once whether they played whist, and with the consciousness that he was
thinking about it, and with the exertion of self-control necessary to
keep it to himself, his countenance assumed a variety of expressions.

During the conversation Roland had left the room, holding the aunt's
hand; he now came in with Eric and the Major, holding in his hand a
large letter with the seal of the ministry of education.

Roland said,--

"I beseech you, aunt, let me speak."

All were surprised at the appearance of the boy, who now said, holding
up the letter,--

"The aunt has confided to me, that here is the decree appointing you to
be director for the keeping of the beautiful bronze and marble statues
of antiquity. Eric, I am not made of bronze or marble, and when you are
there among those figures it will freeze