ble of.

Now say what you please, candid reader! Yesterday, an hour ago, you
held in little esteem some man's judgment, you saw distinctly his
limitations, and now he shows that he recognizes your worth, he praises
you, he extols you, and suddenly, without being aware of it, your
opinion is changed concerning him whom you before regarded as one-sided
and contracted, especially if you are a person struggling with
yourself, withdrawn into yourself, and often self-doubting.

This was the case with Eric. Pranken seemed to him a man of very good
judgment, very amiable indeed; and he even expressed openly his
satisfaction, that the friends of the family stood by him and cheered
him in his difficult work of education.

Pranken was content; Eric manifestly acknowledged his position; he
showed this by not accompanying them on the journey, and not thrusting
himself into the family; perhaps also there was a certain touch of
pride in not wanting to appear as a part of the retinue; at any rate,
Eric did not seem destitute of tact.

Pranken understood how to make this patronizing protection appear as a
sort of friendly confidence.

CHAPTER X.

ENTICEMENTS ABROAD.

Eric and Roland lived together in the castle, for so the rooms in the
turret were called, as if they had taken possession of a new abode, and
were all alone; no sound from the human world penetrated here, nothing
but the song of birds, and the ringing of the bells of the village
church on the mountain.

A regular employment of the time was instituted; until noon they knew
nothing of what was going on in the house, and Roland lived almost
exclusively in the thought of Benjamin Franklin.

New analogies were continually presenting themselves, and it was
especially productive of them that an American youth, a rich youth
besides, who had never been deprived of anything, should lay out for
himself a life full of deprivations. Roland lived and moved wholly in
Franklin; he spoke, at the table, of Benjamin Franklin, as if he were a
man who had just appeared, and was invisibly present and speaking with
them. Roland wished to keep a regular record of what he thought and
did, exactly as Franklin had done, but Eric restrained him, knowing
that he would not persevere in it, being as yet too fickle. And this
calling one's self to account was peculiarly adapted to one who stood
alone, or was seeking the way by hims