"But are these feuds never to die out?" I said.
"Yes," she replied sternly, leading me to a window, from which we looked on a ruined castle in the distance. "That feud has died out. The family is extinct!"
"The Lord Christ tells us to forgive our enemies," I said quietly.
"Undoubtedly," she replied; "but the von Bernsteins were usurpers of our rights, robbers and murderers. Such wrongs must be avenged, or society would fall to pieces."
Towards the peasants Dame Hermentrud has very condescending and kindly feelings, and frequently gives us food and clothing for them, although she still doubts the wisdom of teaching them to read.
"Every one should be kept in his place," she says.
And as yet I do not think she can form any idea of heaven, except as of a well organized community, in which the spirits of the nobles preside loftily on the heights, while the spirits of the peasants keep meekly to the valleys; the primary distinction between earth and heaven being, that in heaven all will know how to keep in their places.
And no doubt in one sense she is right. But how would she like the order in which places in heaven are assigned?
"The first shall be last, and the last first."
"He that is chief among you, let him be as he that doth serve."