e only an awkward clumsy way of sliding into it, through
a 'what do you mean by that?'

"And as for the seventh; that is utterly detestable. What! to stimulate
the precocious curiosity of children to pry into dangerous mysteries; to
obtrude violently upon their imaginations, ideas and notions which
beyond all things you should wish to keep from them! It were far better
if such actions as that commandment speaks of were dealt with
arbitrarily by some secret tribunal, than prated openly of before church
and congregation--"

At this moment Ottilie entered the room.

"'Thou shalt not commit adultery,'"--Mittler went on--"How coarse! how
brutal! What a different sound it has, if you let it run, 'Thou shalt
hold in reverence the bond of marriage. When thou seest a husband and a
wife between whom there is true love, thou shalt rejoice in it, and
their happiness shall gladden thee like the cheerful light of a
beautiful day. If there arise anything to make division between them,
thou shalt use thy best endeavor to clear it away. Thou shalt labor to
pacify them, and to soothe them; to show each of them the excellencies
of the other. Thou shalt not think of thyself, but purely and
disinterestedly thou shalt seek to further the well-being of others, and
make them feel what a happiness is that which arises out of all duty
done; and especially out of that duty which holds man and wife
indissolubly bound together.'"

Charlotte felt as if she was sitting on hot coals. The situation was
the more distressing, as she was convinced that Mittler was not thinking
the least where he was or what he was saying; and before she was able to
interrupt him, she saw Ottilie, after changing color painfully for a few
seconds, rise and leave the room.

Charlotte constrained herself to seem unembarrassed. "You will leave us
the eighth commandment," she said, with a faint smile.

"All the rest," replied Mittler, "if I may only insist first on the
foundation of the whole of them."

At this moment Nanny rushed in, screaming and crying: "She is dying; the
young lady is dying; come to her, come."

Ottilie had found her way back with extreme difficulty to her own room.
The beautiful things which she was to wear the next day were laid out on
a number of chairs; and the girl, who had been running from one to the
other, staring at them and admiring them, called out in her ecstasy,
"Look, dearest madam, only look! There is a bridal dress worthy of you."