His  plan  now  was  briefly  this  :  He  would  entangle  him
self  with  no  alliances  or  intimate  associations  in  America,
nor  would  he  permit  his  daughter  to  do  so.  His  only  object
in  staying  here  was  the  accumulation  of  a  large  fortune,  and
to  this  for  a  few  years  he  would  bend  every  energy  of  mind
and  body.     As  soon  as  he  felt  that  he  had  sufficient  meaiaa


88  BARRIERS  BURNED  AWAY.
ro  live  in  such  style  as  befitted  the  ancient  and  honorable
name  of  his  family,  he  would  return  to  Germany,  buy  all  he
could  of  the  ancestral  estate  that  from  time  to  time  had
been  parted  with,  and  restore  his  house  to  its  former
grandeur.  He  himself  would  then  seek  a  marriage  con-
nection that  would  strengthen  his  social  position,  while  his
daughter  also  should  make  a  brilliant  alliance  with  some
memDer  of  the  nobility.  Mr.  Ludolph  was  a  handsome^
well-preserved  man ;  he  had  been  most  successful  in  busi-
ness, and  was  now  more  rapidly  than  ever  accumulating  that
which  is  truly  a  power  with  Europeans  of  blue  blood,  as
with  democratic  Americans.  Moreover,  his  daughter's  beauty
promised  to  be  such  that,  when  enhanced  by  every  worldly
advantage,  it  might  well  command  attention  in  the  highest
circles.  He  sought  with  scrupulous  care  to  give  her  just  the
education  that  would  enable  her  to  shine  as  a  star  among
the  high-born.  Art,  music,  and  knowledge  of  literature,
especially  the  German,  were  the  main  things  to  which  her
attention  was  directed,  and  in  her  father,  with  his  richly
stored  mind,  faultless  taste,  and  cultured  voice,  she  had  an
instructor  such  as  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  most  favored.
