It accustoms them thus, systematically, to that blind obedience which seems to me the true sin against the Holy Ghost. I do not know if we agree on this point, my dear sir?" "Perfectly," replied Oswald. "Well," said Bemperlein, "and yet the most surprising thing to me is the length of time during which that intoxication lasts, long after the University years have been forgotten. There is a Baron Lylow living near us at Berkow, a man of forty, who has been married at least ten years. Well, yesterday, when I took leave of him, with Julius,--the children have always been very intimate,--the baron fell, after supper, to talking about his University time, and gave us--I mean his tutor and myself--a sketch of his heroic deeds in those days. Fortunately, my colleague had been a fast young man in Halle, and could tell the baron all about the present fashion as to duels. And now you ought to have seen how the good gentleman became excited, how he pitied the low state of students' minds in our day, how he regretted the small number of duels, the miserably small quantity of beer which was consumed at night, and so on. His eyes actually sparkled as he recalled the past glory, and he became so deeply moved that he finally gave vent to the pious wish that all the Rhenish Democrats, as he called them, those people who talked about freedom of the press and such stuff, might have but one neck, in order to make an end to all their cries by--here he made an expressive gesture with the hand." "Of course," replied Oswald. "When these great men are young, they sing, 'Oh, Liberty, dear Liberty!' that is very poetical heard from afar, and they sing and drink and sing, till they verily believe they hold said opinions. But that is a mere hallucination, or if they ever really think of it in earnest, they mean by it the liberty to smash windows, to insult helpless men, to create a disturbance in public places, and to achieve other heroic deeds of the kind with impunity. Then comes another liberty--the liberty to remain forever, with undying respect, your most humble, obedient servant, as long as they are subalterns, and to treat the world like dogs when they become ministers. But we have drifted away from our subject. You were spared, I trust, the unpleasant alternative of hurting the feelings of those privileged beings, or your own honor?"