_George._ All these years I have struggled and deprived myself with only one thing in view--to be free--free--and yet I must bow--I must bow. If it were not for the sake of this beautiful child, who is innocent of it all, I would be tempted to--But the die is cast, the yoke is ready--and so am I!... I, too, am a child of misery, a calamity child; but I am a subject of charity. I accept all they have to give.... Was I not picked up from the street, as my uncle so kindly informed me for the second time--like yourself? Do I not belong to this house, and am I not smothered with the damnable charity of my benefactors, like yourself? It is St. John's night. The entire family is gathered on the estate of the Brauers, while the peasants are making merry with song and dance at the lighted bonfires. It is a glorious, dreamy night, suggestive of symbolic meaning. According to the servant _Katie_, it is written that "whoever shall give or receive their first kiss on St. John's eve, their love is sealed and they will be faithful unto death." In the opinion of the _Pastor_, St. John's night represents a religious phase, too holy for flippant pagan joy. _Pastor._ On such a dreamy night, different emotions are aroused within us. We seem to be able to look into the future, and imagine ourselves able to fathom, all mystery and heal all wounds. The common becomes elevated, our wishes become fate; and now we ask ourselves: What is it that causes all this within us--all these desires and wishes? It is _love_, brotherly love, that has been planted in our souls, that fills our lives: and, it is life itself. Am I not right? And now, with one bound, I will come to the point. In the revelation you will find: "God is love." Yes, God is love; and that is the most beautiful trait of our religion--that the best, the most beautiful within us, has been granted us by Him above. Then how could I, this very evening, so overcome with feeling for my fellow-man--how could I pass Him by? Therefore, Mr. Brauer, no matter, whether pastor or layman, I must confess my inability to grant your wish, and decline to give you a genuine pagan toast-- But Christian symbolism having mostly descended from primitive pagan custom, _George's_ view is perhaps the most significant.