Carl followed him everywhere, and informed the family that he, too, would be a soldier.
"No, no!" cried his mother, shrinking.
But the professor reproved her.
"All my sons," he said most solemnly, "I give freely to the Fatherland."
But Madame von Stork, remembering her Wolfgang, set hard her lips.
"If there comes a war against Napoleon, I shall go as a nurse. I am old enough now, am I not, dear father?" and Marianne slipped her arm around his neck.
The professor nodded.
"I agree willingly, dear daughter," and he pressed her hand.
Goethe was no longer Marianne's hero.
"He sat in his garden in quiet," she said, "when the cannon roared at Jena, and never in all our trouble has he raised his voice for Germany. He is the greatest poet, yes, but not a hero. He saw Napoleon, he admired him, and says he has sympathy with him because of his great dream of uniting Europe. I cannot forgive it."