uiet nights
Roland and Eric walked along the mountain paths, and feasted their eyes
on the moonlit landscape, where on one side the mountains threw their
shadows, and in sharp contrast the moonlight rested on the vineyards,
and the stars shone above and sparkled in the river. An air of blessed
peace lay over the landscape, and the wanderers drank it in as they
walked on, breaking the silence only by an occasional word. These hours
brought the truest benediction; in them the soul wished only to
breathe, to gaze, to dream with open eyes, and to be conscious of the
inner fulness, and of the on-flowing, quiet, prosperous growth of
nature. The vine draws nourishment from earth and air, and in such
hours all that is developed in the soul by nameless forces ripens
there, with all that streams into it from without.

CHAPTER XII.

A HUNTER'S PLEASURE AND A HUNTER'S PAIN.

Eric took great care not to change Roland's bold and determined
character into one of morbid enthusiasm. He interposed between the
studies an equal measure of physical exercise, fencing, leaping,
riding, swimming, and rowing. He was glad that he had to call in no
other teacher, and he gained new strength, and maintained his constant
intercourse with his pupil, by taking the lead in these recreations.

With Fassbender's help, he also taught Roland to take measurements out
of doors. Fassbender was extremely skilful in such work, but he
constantly showed a humble submissiveness towards Roland, which caused
Eric much vexation; and when he said one day that he should tell his
friend Knopf how industrious and clever Roland was, the boy tossed his
head in displeasure. He evidently wished to hear nothing more of Knopf;
perhaps, too, he had something in his memory of which he would not
speak to Eric.

Eric laid out a shooting-ground for Roland also, not wishing to
withdraw him from his accustomed life out of doors, where he had roved
at pleasure; only it was distinctly understood that exercise in the
open air was to come after mental work, never before it.

One great difficulty lay in moderating Roland's passion for hunting.
Eric did not wish to repress it altogether, but only to keep it within
due limits. Now, in midsummer, there was only rabbit-hunting, and Claus
came to take Roland out with him. Former teachers had left Roland to go
alone with the huntsman, but Eric accompanied them, and Roland drew in
new