"Another story!" moaned the Professor. He dreaded the idea of pronouncing a judgment which was wholly without results, as in the case of Sonnenkamp.
The Major, however, begged so urgently that he consented, and Fräulein Milch began:—
"You, Herr Professor, are just like my father, and yet you are very different! He, too, was a learned man, but in a very different sphere.
"You have many of his habits, and, if you accompany me to the altar, it will seem as though my father were with me, although you are much younger. And you, my friends,—you, Frau Professorin, who have honored me before knowing my life, and you, Fräulein Manna, who, after conquering a strong prejudice, have given me your rich love,—you shall now be made really acquainted with me. But you (turning to the Banker), you will best be able to pass sentence upon me; for you are a Jew, as I am a Jewess."
All were astounded.
Fräulein Milch waited quietly until her auditors had recovered from their amazement, then continued:—
"I am the daughter of a learned Hebrew, and an only daughter. I had one brother, of whom we shall hear later. My father was a noble and pious man; he was considered a scholar of great discernment, with fine polemical gifts; but in life he was childishly simple and—why should I not say it?—shiftless. He read the sacred books from morning till night.
"My mother sprang from a wealthy house, had once been blessed in early childhood by the hands of Moses Mendelssohn; from this it was predicted that she would one day marry a man of great knowledge. This proved true. According to the will of her parents she became the wife of my father, on account of his piety and learning.
"Such was the way in which the opulent Israelites formerly exhibited their gratitude and respect for a learned man of their faith, as the Christians bestowed gifts upon the convents. The Jews could found no establishments. They had no protection; all their goods were movable, and thus they devoted a portion of their wealth to the support of our scientific men.
"My mother's whole being was absorbed in her adoration of my father. The quiet and uniformity of life; the calm content which reigned in my parental abode; how the poor were fed; how our entire existence was nought save the pause between one pious deed and another, between one festival and another, no one present can know but you (turning towards the Banker), you alone can conceive of it. I myself often recall it as a dream. In winter, when my father was unable to go out, the community came to my father, to unite together in prayer in his study, and, while a little child, I used to hear much discourse on worldly events.