Early the next morning Amrei told John all about what his parents had said to her, and what they had given her. And John cried out joyously: "Lord in heaven, forgive me! I could have believed such a thing of my mother, but of my father I should never have dreamt it! Why, you must be a witch! And look you! We will do that--we won't tell either of them about the other. And the best part of it is, that each wants to deceive the other, whereas, in reality, both of them will be deceived! Yes, they must both think that you really had some extra money! Hurrah! That will be a merry jest for the betrothal party!" But in the midst of all the joy in the house there were all sorts of anxieties too! CHAPTER XX IN THE FAMILY CIRCLE It is not morality that rules the world, but a hardened form of it called "custom." As the world is now disposed, it would rather forgive an offense against morality than an offense against custom. Happy are those times and countries in which morality and custom are still one. Every dispute that arises, on a small scale as well as on a large one, in general as well as in particular, hinges on the effort to reconcile the contradiction between these two; and to melt the hardened form of custom back into the true ore of morality, and stamp the coin anew according to its value. Even here, in this little story dealing with people who live apart from the great tumult of the world, the reflection of this truth is seen. The mother, who was secretly the most rejoiced over the happy realization of her hopes, was yet full of peculiar anxiety concerning the opinion of the world. "After all," she said, complainingly, to Amrei, "you did a thoughtless thing to come into the house in the way you did, so that we cannot go and fetch you to the wedding. It was not good, not customary. If I could only send you away for a short time, or else John, so that it would all be more according to rule." And to John she said plaintively: "I hear already the talk there'll be if you marry in such a hurry. People will say: 'Twice asked, the third time persuaded--that's the way worthless people do it!'" But she allowed herself to be pacified by both of them, and smiled when John said: "Mother, you have studied up everything, like a clergyman. Then tell me, why should decent people refrain from doing something, simply because indecent people use it as a cloak? Can any one say anything bad about me?" "No,--you have been a good lad all your life."