Weidmann continued, "I have left you to yourself, Roland; but now I will tell you the state of your mind. You are involved in doubt and despair; but you are no strong man unless you rise above them."
The young man's eyes dilated, and Weidmann continued,—
"Two things are to be noted. In the first place, you have ceased to believe that the world is under the dominion of moral law, you have lost your faith in that Supreme Being whom we, as well as the Priests, call God; and, secondly, you believe (and this is worse still),—you believe that you must take upon yourself the expiation of sins which you never committed. You dread the inevitable consequences entailed by every earthly event, and are confused by your fears."
Roland gazed wonderingly at the man who thus calmly and deliberately spoke out his own inmost thought.
Weidmann continued,—
"On the one hand, you deny the operation of eternal laws; on the other, you fear it. Now look at these masses of ice in the river. Do you care to learn something of that immeasurable and all-pervading wisdom which interrupts the laws of Nature when their strict, logical consequences would involve the destruction of the world?"
"Oh, if that were so! If I might but learn it!"
"Well, then, stop there. Do you know what changes regularly take place in bodies as they become warmer or colder?"
"Heat expands, and renders them lighter. Cold contracts, and makes them heavier."
"Is it the same with water?"