The lore that he imbibed in early childhood stood Karl in good stead when he began his school life, and his preparation for the university.  He had an absolute genius for study, and was no less fond of the sports and games of his companions, so that he seemed to be marked out for success.  At sixteen years of age he showed a precocious ability for planning and carrying out his work with thoroughness.  His mind was evidently a creative mind, one that was able to think out difficult problems without fatigue.  His taste was shown in his fondness for the classics, in studying which he noted subtle distinctions of meaning that usually escape even the mature scholar.  Penetration, thoroughness, creativeness, and a capacity for labor were the boy’s chief characteristics.

With such gifts, and such a nature, he left home for the university of Bonn.  Here he disappointed all his friends.  His studies were neglected; he was morose, restless, and dissatisfied.  He fell into a number of scrapes, and ran into debt through sundry small extravagances.  All the reports that reached his home were most unsatisfactory.  What had come over the boy who had worked so hard in the gymnasium at Treves?

The simple fact was that he had became love-sick.  His separation from Jenny von Westphalen had made him conscious of a feeling which he had long entertained without knowing it.  They had been close companions.  He had looked into her beautiful face and seen the luminous response of her lovely eyes, but its meaning had not flashed upon his mind.  He was not old enough to have a great consuming passion, he was merely conscious of her charm.  As he could see her every day, he did not realize how much he wanted her, and how much a separation from her would mean.

As “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” so it may suddenly draw aside the veil behind which the truth is hidden.  At Bonn young Marx felt as if a blaze of light had flashed before him; and from that moment his studies, his companions, and the ambitions that he had hitherto cherished all seemed flat and stale.  At night and in the daytime there was just one thing which filled his mind and heart—­the beautiful vision of Jenny von Westphalen.

Meanwhile his family, and especially his father, had become anxious at the reports which reached them.  Karl was sent for, and his stay at Bonn was ended.

Now that he was once more in the presence of the girl who charmed him so, he recovered all his old-time spirits.  He wooed her ardently, and though she was more coy, now that she saw his passion, she did not discourage him, but merely prolonged the ecstasy of this wonderful love-making.  As he pressed her more and more, and no one guessed the story, there came a time when she was urged to let herself become engaged to him.

Here was seen the difference in their ages—­a difference that had an effect upon their future.  It means much that a girl should be four years older than the man who seeks her hand.  She is four years wiser; and a girl of twenty is, in fact, a match for a youth of twenty-five.  Brought up as she had been, in an aristocratic home, with the blood of two noble families in her veins, and being wont to hear the easy and somewhat cynical talk of worldly people, she knew better than poor Karl the un-wisdom of what she was about to do.