“Matthew, do you remember saying, right when we began, how you noticed that we take God seriously in everything?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, now I’m going to try to tell you why.”

A pause followed.

“Who is master of this estate, Matthew?” he asked after a moment.

“You are, Herr von Dortmann.”

“What have you learned during your time here?”

“In what way?”

“Would you say that you have learned more about the grounds and our farming operations, or perhaps about this garden of ours and its many varieties of plants, or maybe you have learned about the history of this region of Germany once known as Pomerania? Are those the kinds of things you have learned during your stay with us?”

Matthew thought a moment.

“Now that you mention it, I don’t suppose I know much about any of those things.”

“Have you learned anything during this past week?”

“Oh yes, of course!”

“What?”

“Well, you and Sabina have told me a lot about God.”

“That’s true. But can you say you really know them to be true yet? Haven’t you been mostly just listening?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Then what are some things that you have really learned about this week? What is something you can say you really do know far more about than when you arrived? If it’s not the farming or the history or the garden or God—what is it you’ve learned most about?”

He gave Matthew a long time to think. At last a smile broke over his face.

“I think I see what you’re getting at!” he said.

“What?”

“The answer… is you. I’ve learned about you people—you and Sabina and your wife, all of you—your whole family.”

“Exactly!” exclaimed the baron. “You have come to know us. And when you leave here, that will be the thing you will take away that you didn’t possess before—you will be on intimate terms with some people whom you didn’t even know existed before, people I hope you will consider friends for the rest of your life. And you don’t merely know us, I venture to say—wouldn’t you agree that you know quite a bit about us, about the people we are, about how we think and relate to one another, about what kind of family we are, about how this whole estate functions?”

“Yes—certainly.”

“How have you come to know us, Matthew?”

“By watching and listening to you, I guess.”

“Observing what we do, how we conduct ourselves, listening to what we say, learning how we think?”

Matthew nodded.

“And by talking to us, asking us questions, that kind of thing?”

“All of it,” said Matthew. “It has all helped me to get to know you.”