"Come to me," said his mother, "and kiss me, Roland, you look so pale; is anything the matter with you?"
The boy kissed his mother, and, shaking his head as if denying that anything ailed him, said in a voice hovering between a falsetto and a bass, "I am as well as my young dogs."
A deep color dyed his cheeks, and his lips became purple.
"I do not wish to punish you on the day that you receive your tutor," said Sonnenkamp, casting a glance toward his wife.
"I? a tutor again? no tutor for me," replied the boy; "and if you give me one, I will soon make him take his leave."
Sonnenkamp smiled. This bold, defiant attitude of the boy seemed specially to delight him. When Roland, who had just declined all food, ate now heartily, his mother followed his example; in the satisfaction of knowing that her son had so good an appetite, she also found one, so that Fräulein Perini could not refrain from remarking to Roland,—
"See, Master Roland, how on your dear mother's account you should come regularly at meal-time, for she can only taste food when you also partake of it."
The boy gave Fräulein Perini a peculiar look, but made no reply; there seemed to be no good understanding between the boy and the companion of his mother. Fräulein Perini, however, showed her friendliness toward the boy, promising to pay a visit with him to the young dogs after breakfast.
"Do you know why dogs are born blind?" asked Roland.
"Because God has so ordained it."