"What do you mean?" asked Manna. Roland gave her a glassy stare, but he kept it to himself that he had exhorted his father to put away all his property, and that the father had led him to believe it should be done; but now he seemed to see clearly that nothing of the kind would ever take place. He closed his eyes, opened them again, and lay there paralyzed as in an awful void, everything crushed and shattered within him.
Manna understood how he felt, and kneeling by the sofa, she cried:—
"Roland, I have a great secret to tell you; Eric and I-—-"
"What?" exclaimed Roland, sitting upright.
"Eric and I are betrothed."
"You? you two?"
He sprang up, pressed her in his arms, exclaiming again:—
"You? you two?"
"Yes, Roland; and he has known everything for a long time."
"He has known everything? And he has not rejected you with disdain?—and he has instructed me so faithfully?—Oh!"