has told you enough of Jena. He understood how to unite work and
pleasure; I, on the contrary, learned little on the wooden benches, for I
rarely occupied them, and the dust of books certainly didn't spoil my
lungs. But I read Ariosto again and again, devoted myself to singing,
and when a storm of feeling seethed within my breast, composed many songs
for my own pleasure. We learned to wield the sword too in Jena, and I
would gladly have crossed blades with the sturdy fencing-master
Allertssohn, of whom you have just told me. Leonhard was older than I,
and when he graduated with honor, I was still very weak in the pandects.
But we were always one in heart and soul, so I went to Holland with him
to attend his wedding. Ah, those were days! The theologians in Jena
have actively disputed about the part of the earth, in which the little
garden of Paradise should be sought. I considered them all fools, and
thought: 'There is only one Eden, and that lies in Holland, and the
fairest roses the dew waked on the first sunny morning, bloom in Delft!'"

At these words Georg shook back his waving locks and hesitated in great
embarrassment, but as no one interrupted him and he saw Barbara's eager
face and the children's glowing cheeks, quietly continued:

"So I came home, and was to learn for the first time, that in life also
beautiful sunny days often end with storms. I found my father ill, and a
few days after my return he closed his eyes in death. I had never seen
any human being die, and the first, the very first, was he, my father."

Georg paused, and deeply moved, passed his hand over his eyes.

"Your father!" cried Barbara, in a tone of cordial sympathy, breaking
the silence. "If we can judge the tree by the apple, he was surely a
splendid man."