"We have nothing to grant to her; you are her parents, and have unconditional power over your child."
"Of course," burst out Sonnenkamp, "of course, if her thoughts are influenced—but I beg your pardon, I interrupted you."
"By no means, I have finished; you have to decide whether you will agree to the condition beforehand; you have full parental power. I will call one of the sisters to conduct you to Manna's cell; it is not locked. I have only performed the child's commission, now act according to your own judgment."
"Yes, that I will do, and she shall not stay here an hour longer!"
"If her mother has any voice in the matter," began Frau Ceres.
Sonnenkamp looked at her as if some speechless piece of furniture had spoken, and Frau Ceres continued, not to him, but to the Superior,—
"I declare as her mother that we will lay no compulsion upon her; I grant her this condition."
Sonnenkamp started up and clutched the back of a chair; there was a violent struggle within him, but suddenly he said, in a most gentle tone,—
"Roland, go now to Herr von Pranken."
Roland was forced to leave the convent, his heart beating fast. There was his sister in a room above; what was to happen to her? Why could he not go to her, embrace and kiss her, and play with her long dark hair as he used to do? He went out of doors, but not to Pranken; he entered the open church, and there he knelt and prayed with deep fervor. He could not have said for what he prayed, but he asked for peace and beauty, and suddenly, as he looked up, he started back; there was the great picture of St. Anthony of Padua, and, wonderful to say, this picture resembled Eric,—the noble, beautiful face was Eric's.