above all other men, had struck at its base. For an
association in which kings and cobblers stand side by side on an equal
footing must necessarily be dangerous to its foes.

Sebastian was not carried off his feet by the great events of the
last six months. They only rendered him steadier. For he had waited a
lifetime. It is only a sudden success that dazzles. Long waiting nearly
always ensures a wise possession.

Sebastian, like all men absorbed in a great thought, was neglectful
of his social and domestic obligations. Has it not been shown that he
allowed Mathilde and Desiree to support him by giving dancing lessons?
But he was not the ordinary domestic tyrant who is familiar to all--the
dignified father of a family who must have the best of everything, whose
teaching to his offspring takes the form of an unconscious and solemn
warning. He did not ask the best; he hardly noticed what was offered to
him; and it was not owing to his demand, but to that feminine spirit of
self-sacrifice which has ruined so many men, that he fared better than
his daughters.

If he thought about it at all, he probably concluded that Mathilde and
Desiree were quite content to give their time and thought to the
support of himself--not as their father, but as the motive power of the
Tugendbund in Prussia. Many greater men have made the same mistake,
and quite small men with a great name make it every day, thinking
complacently that it is a privilege to some woman to minister to their
wants while they produce their immortal pictures or deathless
books; whereas, the woman would tend him as carefully were he a
crossing-sweeper, and is only following the dictates of an instinct
which is loftier than his highest thought and more admirable than his
most astounding work of art.

Barlasch had not lived so long in the Frauengasse without learning the
domestic economy of Sebastian's household. He knew that Desiree, like
many persons with kind blue eyes, shaped her own course through life,
and abided by the result with a steadfastness not usually attributed to
the light-hearted. He concluded that he must make ready to take the
road again before midnight. He therefore gave a careful and businesslike
attention to the simple meal set before him by Lisa; and, looking
up over his plate, he saw for the second time in his life Sebastian
hurrying into his own kitchen.

Barlasch half rose, and then, in obedience to a gesture from Sebastian,
or remembering