Clodwig must have strongly impressed upon the Russian the advantages he would derive from intercourse with Eric, for the young man addressed him at once by saying, "I should be very glad if you would let me learn something from you."
He said it so confidingly, and with so much of a child's submission, that Eric gave him his hand, saying,—
"I am sure I shall be able to learn something from you too."
"Except whist, which every one says I play exceedingly well, I am afraid there is nothing to be learned from me," laughed the Russian.
Then, as a man who at once looks to the producers for a knowledge of the products of a country, he said,—
"I hear that philosophy has gone out of fashion in Germany; can you tell me any reason for the fact?"
Clodwig nodded; the topic was well chosen, and the question modestly put.
Eric suggested as his opinion, without having any definite information to give on the subject, that perhaps philosophy was regarded less as a separate science, and had become the groundwork of all the sciences.
"Are you of opinion," asked the Prince, "that the categorical imperative of Kant, and the French Revolution, have tended to the same results?"
Bella laid back her head, and looked up into the blue sky. The men were entering upon themes which, in deference to her, ought to be postponed to another time, but she would be patient and listen.