Three of us boys were always together, and had been so from the cradle, being fond of each other from the beginning, and this affection deepening as the years went on—Nikolaus Baumann, son of the principalⒶalteration in the MS judge of the localⒶalteration in the MS court; Seppi Wohlmeyer, son ofⒶalteration in the MS the keeper of the principal inn, the “Golden Stag,” which had a nice garden, with shade trees, reaching down to the river-side, and pleasure-boats for hire; and I was the third—Theodor Fischer, son of the church organist, who was also leader of the village band, teacher of the violin, composer,Ⓐalteration in the MS tax collector of the commune, sexton,Ⓐalteration in the MS and in other ways a useful citizen and respected by all. We knew the hills and the woods as well as the birds knew them; for we were always roaming them when we had leisure—at least when we were not swimming or boatingⒶalteration in the MS or fishing, or playing on the ice or sliding down hill.

And we had the run of the castle park, and very few had that. It was because we were pets of the oldest serving-man in the castle—Felix Brandt; and often we went there, nights, to hear him talk about old times and strange things, and smoke with him (he taught us that), and drink coffee; for he had served in the wars, and was at the siege of Vienna; and there, when the Turks were defeated and driven away, among the captured things were bags of coffee, and the Turkish prisoners explainedⒶalteration in the MS the character of it and how to make a pleasant drink out of it, and now he always kept coffee by [begin page 44] him, to drink himself, and also to astonish the ignorant with. When it stormed he kept us all night; and while it thundered and lightened outside he told about ghosts and horrors of every kind, and of battles and murders and mutilations, and such things, and made it pleasant and cosy inside; and he told these things from his own experience largely. He had seen many ghostsⒶalteration in the MS in his time, and witches and enchanters, and once he was lost in a fierceⒶalteration in the MS storm at midnight in the mountains, and by the glare of the lightning had seen the Wild Huntsman rage by on the blast with his spectre dogs chasing after him through the driving cloud-rack. Also he had seen an incubusⒶalteration in the MS once, and several times he had seen the great bat that sucks the blood from the necks of people while they are asleep, fanning them softly with its wings and so keeping them drowsy till they die. He encouraged us not to fear supernatural things, such as ghosts, and said they did no harm, but only wandered about because they were lonely and distressed and wanted kindly notice and compassion; and in time we learned to not be afraidⒶtextual note, and even went down with him in the night to the haunted chamber in the dungeons of the castle. The ghost appeared only once, and it went by very dim to the sight and floating noiseless through the air, and then disappeared; and we scarcely trembled, he had taught us so well. He said it came up sometimes in the night and woke him up by passing its clammy hand over hisⒶalteration in the MS face, but it did him no hurt, it only wanted sympathy and notice. But the strangest thing was, that he had seen angels; actual angels out of heaven, and had talked with them. They had no wings, and wore clothes, and talked and looked and acted just like any natural person, and you would never know them for angels, except for the wonderful things they did which a mortal could not do, and the way they suddenly disappeared while you were talking with them, which was also a thing which no mortal could do. And he said they were pleasant and cheerful, not gloomy and melancholy, like ghosts.Ⓐalteration in the MS

It was after that kind of a talk, one May nightⒶalteration in the MS,Ⓐemendation that we got up next morning and had a goodⒶalteration in the MS breakfast with him and then went down and crossed the bridge and went away up into the hills on the left to a woody hill-top which was a favorite place of ours, and there [begin page 45] we stretched out on the grass in the shade to rest and smoke and talk over those strange things, for they were in our minds yet, and impressing us. But we couldn't smoke, because we had been heedless and left our flint and steel behind.Ⓐalteration in the MS

Soon there came a youthⒶalteration in the MS strolling towards us through the trees, and he sat down and began to talk in a friendly way, just as if he knew us. But we did not answer him, for he was a stranger and we were not used to strangers and were shy of them. He had new and good clothes on, and was handsome and had a winning face and a pleasant voice, and was easyⒶalteration in the MS and graceful and unembarrassed, not slouchy and awkward and diffident like other boys. We wanted to be friendly with him, but didn't know how to begin. Then I thought of the pipe, and wondered if it would be taken as kindlyⒶemendation meantⒶtextual note if I offered it to him. But I remembered that we had no fire; so I was sorry and disappointed. But he looked up bright andⒶalteration in the MS pleased, and said—

“Fire? Oh, that is easy—I will furnish it.”

I was so astonished I couldn't speak; for I had not said anything. He took the pipe and blew his breath on it, and the tobacco glowed red and spirals of blue smoke rose up. We jumped up and were going to run, for that was natural; and we did run a few steps, although he was yearningly pleading for us to stay, and giving us his word that he would not do us any harm, but only wanted to be friends with us and have company. So we stopped and stood, and wanted to go back, being full of curiosity and wonder, but afraid to venture. He went on coaxing, in his soft persuasive way; and when we saw that the pipe did not blow up and nothing happened, our confidence returned byⒶalteration in the MS little and little, and presently our curiosity got to be stronger than our fear, and we ventured back—but slowly, and ready to fly, at any alarm.

He was bent on putting us at ease, and he had the right art; one could not remain timorous and doubtful where a person was so earnest and simple and gentle and talked so alluringly as he did; no, he won us over, and it was not long before we were content and comfortable and chatty, and glad we had found this new friend. WhenⒶalteration in the MS the feeling of constraint was all gone, we asked him how he [begin page 46] had learned to do that strange thing, and he said he hadn't learned it at all, it came natural to him—like other things—other curious things.

“What ones?”

“Oh, a number; I don't know how many.”

“Will you let us see you do them?”

“Do—please!” the others said.

“You won't run away again?”

“No—indeed we won't. Please do, won't you?”Ⓐalteration in the MS

“Yes, with pleasure; but you mustn't forget your promise, you know.”

We said we wouldn't, and he went to a puddle and came back with water in a cup which he had made out of a leaf, and blew upon it and threw it out, and it was a lump of ice, the shape of the cup. We were astonished and charmed, but not afraid any more; we were very glad to be there, and asked him to go on and do someⒶalteration in the MS more things. And he did. He said he would give us any kind of fruit we liked, whether it was in season or not. We all spoke at once—

“Orange!”

“Apple!”

“Grapes!”

“They are in your pockets,” he said, and it was true. And they were of the best, too, and we ate them and wished we had more, though none of us said so.

“You will find them where those came from,” he said, “and everything else your appetites call for; and you need not name the thing you wish; as long as I am with you, you have only to wish and find.”

And he said true. There was never anything so wonderful and so interesting. Bread, cakes, sweets, nuts—whatever one wanted, it was there. He ate nothing himself, but sat and chatted, and did one curious thing after another to amuse us. He made a toy squirrel out of clay, and it ran up a tree and sat on a limb overhead and barked down at us. Then he made a dog that was not much larger than a mouse, and it treed the squirrel and danced about the tree, excited [begin page 47] and barking, and was as alive as any dog could be. It frightened the squirrel from tree to tree and followed it up until both were out of sight in the forest. He made birds out of clay and set them free and they flew away singing.

At last I made bold to ask him to tell us who he was.

“An angel,” he said, quite simply, and set another clay bird free and clapped his hands and made it fly away.

A kind of awe fell upon us when we heard him say that, and we were afraid again; but he said we need not be troubled, there was no occasion for us to be afraid of an angel, and he liked us anyway. He went on chatting as simply and unaffectedly as ever; and while he talked he made a crowd of littleⒶalteration in the MS men and women the size of yourⒶalteration in the MS finger, and they went diligently to work and cleared and leveled off a space a couple ofⒶalteration in the MS yards square in the grass and began to build a cunning little castle inⒶalteration in the MS it, the women mixing the mortar and carrying it up the scaffoldings in pails on their heads, just as our work-women have always done, and the men laying the courses of masonry—five hundred of those toy people swarming briskly about and working diligently and wiping the sweat off their faces as natural as life. In the absorbing interest of watching those five hundredⒶalteration in the MS little people make the castle grow step by step and course by course and take shape and symmetry, that feeling of awe soon passed away, and we were quite comfortable and at home again. We asked if we might make some people, and he said yes, and told Seppi to make some cannon for the walls, and told Nikolaus to make some halberdiers with breastplates and greaves and helmets, and I was to make some cavalry, with horses; and in allottingⒶalteration in the MS these tasks he called us by our names, but did not say how he knew them. Then Seppi asked him what his own name was, and he said tranquilly—

“Satan,” and held out a chip and caught a little woman on it whoⒶalteration in the MS was falling from the scaffolding and put her back where she belonged, and said “she is an idiot to step backward like that and not notice what she is about.”

It caught us suddenly, that name did, and our work dropped out of our hands and broke to pieces—a cannon, a halberdier and a [begin page 48] horse. Satan laughed, and asked what was the matter. It was a natural laugh, and pleasant and sociable, not boisterous, and had a reassuring influence upon us; so I said there was nothing much the matter, only it seemed a strange name for an angel. He asked why.

“Because it's—it's—well, it's his name, you know.”

“Yes—he is my uncle.”

He said it placidly, but it took our breath, for a moment, and made our hearts beat hard. He did not seem to notice that, but partlyⒶalteration in the MS mended our halberdiers and things with a touch, handed them to us to finish, and said—

“Don't you remember?—he was an angel himself once.”

“Yes—it's true,” said Seppi, “I didn't think of that.”

“Before the Fall he was blameless.”

“Yes,” said Nikolaus, “he was without sin.”

“It is a good family—ours,” said Satan; “there is not a better. He is the only member of it that has ever sinned.”

I should not be able to make any one understand how exciting it all was. You know that kind of quiver that trembles around through you when you are seeing something that is so strange and enchanting and wonderful that it is just a fearful joy to be alive and look at it; and you know how you gaze, and your lips turn dry and your breath comes short, but you wouldn't be anywhere but there, not for the world. I was bursting to ask one question—I had it on my tongue's end and could hardly hold it back—but I was ashamed to ask it, it might be a rudeness. Satan set an ox down that he had been making, and smiled up at me and said—

“It wouldn't be a rudeness; and I should forgive it if it was. Have I seen him? Millions of times. From the time that I was a little child a thousand years old I was his second-best favorite among the nursery-angelsⒶalteration in the MS of our blood and lineage—to use a human phrase—yes, from that time till the Fall; eight thousand years, measured as you count time.”

“Eight—thousand?”

“Yes.” He turned to Seppi, and went on as ifⒶemendation answering something that was in Seppi's mind, “Why, naturally I look like a boy, for that is what I am. With us, what you call time is a spacious [begin page 49] thing; it takes a long stretch of it to grow an angel to full age.” There was a question in my mind, and he turned to meⒶalteration in the MS and answered it: “I am sixteen thousand years old—counting as you count.” Then he turned to Nikolaus and said, “No, the Fall did not affect me nor the rest of the relationship. It was only he that I was named for who ate of the fruit of the tree and then beguiled the man and the woman with it. We others are still ignorant of sin; we are not able to commit it; we are without blemish, and shall abide in that estate always. We—” Two of the little workmen were quarreling, and in buzzing little bumble-bee voices they were cursing and swearing at each other; now came blows and blood, then they locked themselves together in a life-and-death struggle. Satan reached out his hand and crushed the life out of them with his fingers, threw them away, wiped the red from his fingers on his handkerchief and went onⒶalteration in the MS talking where he had left off: “We cannot do wrong; neither have we any disposition to do it, for we do not know what it is.”

It seemed a strange speech, in the circumstances, but we barely noticed that, we were so shocked and grieved at the wanton murder he had committed—for murderⒶalteration in the MS it was, it was its true name, and it was without palliation or excuse, for the men had not wronged him in any way. It made us miserable; for we loved him, and had thought him so noble and beautiful and gracious, and had honestly believed he was an angel; and to have him do this cruel thing—ah, it lowered him so, and we had had such pride in him. He went right on talking, just as if nothing had happened: telling about his travels, and the interesting things he had seen in the big worlds of our solar system and of other solar systems far away in the remotenesses of space, and about the customs of the immortals that inhabit them, somehow fascinating us, enchanting us, charming us in spite of the pitiful scene that was now under our eyes: for the wives of the little dead men had found the crushed and shapeless bodies and were crying over them and sobbing and lamenting, and a priest was kneeling there with his hands crossed upon his breast praying, and crowds and crowds of pitying friends were massed about them, reverently uncovered, with their bare heads bowed, and many with [begin page 50] the tears running down—a scene which Satan paid no attention to until the small noise of the weeping and praying began to annoy him, then he reached out and took the heavy board seat out of our swing and brought it down and mashed all those people into the earth just as if they had been flies, and went on talking just the same.

An angel, and kill a priest! an angel who did not know how to do wrong, and yet destroysⒶalteration in the MS in cold blood a hundred helpless poor men and women who had never done him any harm! It made us sick to see that awful deed, and to think that noneⒶalteration in the MS of those poor creatures wasⒶalteration in the MS prepared except the priest, for none of them had ever heard a mass or seen a church. And we were witnesses; we could not get away from that thought; weⒶalteration in the MS had seen these murders done and it was our duty to tell, and let the law take its course.

But he went talking right along, and worked his enchantments upon us again with that fatal music of his voice. He made us forget everything; we could only listen to him, and love him and be his slaves, to do with as he would. He made us drunk with the joy of being with him, and of looking into the heavenⒶalteration in the MS of his eyes, and of feeling the ecstasy that thrilled along our veins from the touch of his hand.

He had seen everything, he had been everywhere, he knew everything, and he forgot nothing. What another must study, he learned at a glance; there were no difficulties for him. And he made things live before you when he told about them. He saw the world made; he saw Adam created; he saw Samson surge against the pillars and bring the temple down in ruins about him; he saw Caesar's death; he told of the daily life in heaven, he had seen the damned writhing in the red waves of hell; and he made us see all these things, and it was as if we were on the spot and looking at them with our own eyes. And we felt them, tooⒶalteration in the MS, but there was no sign that they were anything to him, beyond being mere entertainments. Those visions of hell, those poor babes and women and girls and lads and men shrieking and supplicating in anguish—why, we could hardly bear it, but he was as bland about it as if it had been so many imitation rats in an artificial fire.

And always when he was talking about men and women here in [begin page 51] the earth and their doings—even their grandest and sublimest—we were secretly ashamed, for his manner showed that to him they and their doings were of paltry poor consequence; often you would think he was talking about flies, if you didn't know. Once he even said, in so many words, that our people down here were quite interesting to him, notwithstanding they were so dull and ignorant and trivial and conceited, and so diseased and ricketyⒶemendation, and such a shabby poor worthless lot all around. He said it in a quite matter-of-course way and without any bitterness, just as a person might talk about bricks or manure or any other thing that was of no consequence and hadn't feelings. I could see he meant no offence, but in my thoughts I set it down as not very good manners.

“Manners!” he said, “why it is merely the truth, and truth is good manners; manners are a fiction.Ⓐalteration in the MS The castle is done! Do you like it?”

Any one would have been obliged to like it. It was lovely to look at, it was so shapely and fine, and so cunningly perfect in all its particulars,Ⓐalteration in the MS even to the little flags waving fromⒶalteration in the MS the turrets. Satan said we must put the artillery in place, now, and station the halberdiers and deploy the cavalry. Our men and horsesⒶalteration in the MS were a spectacle to see, they were so little like what they were intended for; for of course we had no art in making such things. Satan said they were the worst he had seen; and when he touched them and made them alive, it was just ridiculous the way they acted, on account of their legs not being of uniform lengths. They reeled and sprawled around as if they were drunk, and endangered everybody's lives around them, and finally fell over and lay helpless and kicking. It made us all laugh, though it was a shameful thing to see. The guns were charged with dirt, to fire a salute; but they were so crooked and so badly made that they all burst when they went off, and killed some of the gunners and crippled the others. Satan said we would have a storm, now, and an earthquake, if we liked, but we must stand off a piece, out of danger. We wanted to call the people away, too, but he said never mind them, they were of no consequence and we could make more, some time or other if we needed them.

A smallⒶalteration in the MS storm-cloud began to settle down black over the castle, [begin page 52] and the miniature lightning and thunder began to play and the ground to quiverⒶalteration in the MS and the wind to pipe and wheeze and the rain to fall, and all the people flocked into the castle for shelter. The cloud settled down blacker and blacker and one could see the castle only dimly through it; the lightnings blazed outⒶalteration in the MS flash upon flash and they pierced the castle and set it on fire and the flames shone out red and fierce through the cloud, and the people came flying out, shrieking, but Satan brushed them back, paying no attention to our begging and crying and imploring; and in the midst of the howling of the wind and volleyingⒶalteration in the MS of the thunder the magazine blew up, the earthquake rent the groundⒶalteration in the MS wideⒶalteration in the MS and the castle's wreck and ruin tumbled into the chasm, which swallowed it from sight and closed upon it, with all that innocent life, not one of the five hundred poor creatures escaping.

Our hearts were broken, we could not keep from crying.Ⓐalteration in the MS

“Don't cry,” Satan said, “they were of no value.”Ⓐalteration in the MS

“But they are gone to hell!”

“Oh, it is no matter, we can make more.”

It was of no use to try to move him; evidently he was wholly without feeling, and could not understand. He was full of bubbling spirits, and as gay as if this were a wedding instead of a fiendish massacre. And he was bent on making us feel as he did, and of course his magic accomplished his desire. It was no trouble to him, he did whatever he pleased with us. In a little while we were dancing on that grave, and he was playingⒶalteration in the MS to us on a strange sweet instrument which he took out of his pocket; and the music—there is no music like that, unless perhaps in heaven, and that was where he brought it from, he said. It made one mad, for pleasure; and we could not take our eyes from him, and the looks that went out of our eyes came from our hearts, and their dumb speech was worship. He brought the dance from heaven, too, and the bliss of paradise was in it.

Presently he said he must go away on an errand. But we could not bear the thought of it, and clung to him, and pleaded with him to stay; and that pleased him, and he said so; and said he would not go yet, but would wait a little while and we would sit down and [begin page 53] talk a few minutes longer; and he told us Satan was only his real name and he was to be known by it to us alone, but he had chosenⒶalteration in the MS another one to be called by in presence of others; just a common one, such as people have—Philip Traum.

It sounded so odd and mean for such a being! But it was his decision, and weⒶalteration in the MS said nothing; his decision was sufficient.

We had seen wonders this day; and my thoughts began to run on the pleasure it would be to tell of them when IⒶalteration in the MS got home; but he noticed those thoughts, and said—

“No, all these matters are a secret between us four. I do not mind your trying to tell them, if you like, but I will protect your tongues, and nothing of the secret will escape from them.”

It was a disappointment, but it couldn't be helped, and it cost us a sigh or two. We talked pleasantly along, and he was always reading our thoughts and responding to them, and it seemed to me that this was the most wonderful of all the things he did; but he interrupted my musings, and said—

“No, it would be wonderful for you, but it is not wonderful for me. I am not limited, like you. I am not subject to human conditions; I can measure and understand your human weaknesses, for I have studied them; but I have none of them. My flesh is not real, although it is firm to the touch, my clothes are not real, I am a spirit.Ⓐalteration in the MS Father Peter is coming.” WeⒶalteration in the MS looked around, but did not see any one. “He is not in sight yet, but you will see him presently.”

“Do you know him, Satan?”

“No.”

“Won't you talk with him when he comes? He is not ignorant and dull, like us, and he would so like to talk with you. Will you?”

“Another time, yes, but not now. I must go on my errand after a little. There he is; now you can see him.Ⓐalteration in the MS Sit still, and don't say anything.”

We looked up and saw Father PeterⒶalteration in the MS approaching through the chestnuts.Ⓐalteration in the MS We three were sitting together in the grass, and Satan sat in front of us in the path. Father Peter came slowly along with his head down, thinking, and stopped within a couple of yards of us and took off his hat and got out his silk handkerchiefⒶalteration in the MS and stood [begin page 54] there mopping his face and looking as if he was going to speak to us, but he didn't. Presently he muttered, “I can't think what brought me here; it seems as if I was in my study a minute ago—but I suppose I have been dreaming along for an hourⒶalteration in the MS and have come all this stretch without noticing; for I am not myself in these troubled days.”Ⓐalteration in the MS Then he went mumbling along to himself and walked straight through Satan, just as if nothing was there. It made us catch our breath to see it. We had the impulse to cry out, the way you nearly always do when a startling thing happens, but something mysteriouslyⒶalteration in the MS restrained us and we remained quiet, only breathing fast. Then the trees hid Father Peter after a little, and Satan said—

“It is as I told you—I am only a spirit.”

“Yes, one perceives it now,” said Nikolaus, “but we are not spirits. It is plain he did not see you, but were we invisible too? He looked at us, but he didn't seem to see us.”

“No, none of us was visible to him, for I wished it so.”

It seemed almost too good to be true, that we were actuallyⒶalteration in the MS seeing these romantic and wonderful things, and that it was not a dream. And there he sat, looking just like anybody—so natural, and simple, and charming, and chatting along again the same as ever, and—well, words cannot make you understand what we felt. It was an ecstasy; and an ecstasy is a thing that will not go into words; it feels like music, and one cannot tell about music so that another person can get the feeling of it. He was back in the old ages once more, now, and making them live before us. He had seen so much, so much! It was just a wonder to look at him and try to think how it must seem to have such experiences behind one.

But it made you seem sorrowfully trivial, and the creature of a day, and such a short and paltry day, too. And he didn't say anything to raise up your droopingⒶtextual note prideⒶalteration in the MS any—no, not a word.Ⓐalteration in the MS He always spoke of men in the same old indifferent way—just as one speaks of bricks and manure-piles and such things; you could see that they were of no consequence to him, one way or the other. He didn't mean to hurt us, you could see that; just as we don't mean to [begin page 55] insult a brick when we disparage it; a brick's emotions are nothing to us; it never occurs to us to think whether it hasⒶalteration in the MS any or not.

Once when he was bunching the most illustrious kings and conquerors and poets and prophets and piratesⒶemendation and beggarsⒶalteration in the MS together —just a brick-pile—I was shamedⒶalteration in the MS into putting in a word for man, and asked him why he made so much difference between men and himself. He had to struggle with that a moment; he didn't seem to understand how I could ask such a strange question. Then he said—

“The difference between man and me? The difference between a mortal and an immortal? between a clod and a spirit?” He picked up a wood-louse that was creeping along a piece of bark: “What is the difference between HomerⒶalteration in the MS and this? between Caesar and this?”

I said—Ⓐalteration in the MS

“One cannot compare things which by their nature and by the interval between them are not comparable.”

“You have answered your own question,” he said.Ⓐalteration in the MS “I will expand it. Man is made of dirt—I saw him made. I am not made of dirt. Man is a museum of disgusting diseases, a home of impurities; he comes to-day and is gone to-morrow, he begins as dirt and departs as a stench; I am of the aristocracy of the Imperishables. And man has the Moral Sense.Ⓐalteration in the MS You understand? he has the Moral Sense. That would seem to be difference enough between us, all by itself.”

He stopped there, as if that settled the matter. I was sorry, for at that time I had put a dim idea of what the moral sense was. I merely knew that we were proud of having it, and when he talked like that about it it wounded me and I felt as a girl feels who thinks her dearest fineryⒶalteration in the MS is being admired, and thenⒶalteration in the MS overhears strangers making fun of it. For a while we were all silent, and I, for one, was depressed. Then Satan began to chat again, and soon he was sparklingⒶalteration in the MS along in suchⒶalteration in the MS a cheerful and vivacious vein that my spirits rose once more. He told some very cunning thingsⒶalteration in the MS that put us in a gale of laughter; and when he was telling about the time that Samson tied the torches to the foxes' tails and set them loose in the Philistines' corn and was sitting on the fence slapping his thighs and laughing, with the tears running down his cheeks, and lost his [begin page 56] balance and fell off the fence,Ⓐalteration in the MS the memory of that picture got him to laughing, too, and we did have a most lovely and jolly time. By and by he said—Ⓐtextual note

“I am going on myⒶalteration in the MS errand, now.”

“Don't!” we all said, “don't go; stay with us. You won't come back.”

“Yes, I will, I give you my word.”

“When? To-night? To-morrow? Say when?”

“It won't be long. You will see.”

“We like you.”

“And I you. And as a proof of it I will show you something fine to see. Usually when I go, I merely vanish; but now I will dissolve myself and let you see meⒶalteration in the MS do it.”

He stood up, and it was quickly finished. He thinned away and thinnedⒶalteration in the MS away until he was a soap-bubble, except that he kept his shape. You could see the bushes through him as clearly as you see things through a soap-bubble, and all over him played and flashed the delicate iridescent colors of the bubble, and along with them was that thing shaped like a window-sash which you always see on the globe of the bubble. You have seen a bubble strike the carpet and lightly bound along two or three times before it bursts. He did that. He sprang—touched the grass—bounded—floated along—touched again—and so on, and presently exploded, —puff! Ⓐalteration in the MS and in his place was vacancy.

It was a strange and beautifulⒶalteration in the MS thing to see. We did not say anything, but satⒶalteration in the MS wondering, and dreaming, and blinking; and finally SeppiⒶalteration in the MS roused up and said, mournfully and sighing—

“I reckon none of it has happened.”

Nikolaus sighed andⒶalteration in the MS said about the same.

I was miserableⒶalteration in the MS to hear them say it, for it was the same coldⒶalteration in the MS fear that was in my own mind. Then we saw poor old Father Peter wandering along back, with his head bent down, searching the ground. When heⒶalteration in the MS was pretty close to usⒶalteration in the MS he looked up and saw us, and said—

“How long have you been here, boys?”

“A little while, Father.”Ⓐalteration in the MS

[begin page 57]

“Then it is since I came by, and maybe you can help me. Did you come up by the path?”

“Yes, Father.”

“That is good.Ⓐalteration in the MS I came the same way. I have lost my wallet.Ⓐalteration in the MS There wasn't much in it, but a very little is much to me, for it was all I had. I suppose you haven't seen anything of it?”

“No, Father, but weⒶalteration in the MS will help you hunt.”

“It is what I was going to ask of you. Why, here it is!”

We hadn't noticed it; yet there it lay, right where Satan stood when he began to melt—if he did melt, and it wasn't a delusion. Father Peter picked it up, and looked very much surprised.

“It is mine,” he said, “but not the contents. This is fat; mine was flat; mine was light, this is heavy.”Ⓐalteration in the MS

He opened it; it was stuffed as full as it could hold, with gold coins. He let us gaze our fill; and of course we did gaze, for we had never seen so much money at one time before. All our mouths came open to say “Satan did it!” but nothing came out. There it was, you see—we couldn't tell what Satan didn't want told; he hadⒶalteration in the MS said so himself.

“Boys, did you do this?”

It made us laugh. And it made him laugh, too, as soon as he thought what a foolish question it was.

“Who has been here?”

Our mouths came open to answer, but stood so for a moment, because we couldn't say “nobody,” for it wouldn't be so, and the right word didn't seem to come; then I thought of the right one, and said it—

“Not a human beingⒶalteration in the MS.”

“That is so,” said the others, and let their mouths go shut.

“It is not so,” said Father Peter, and looked at us very severely. “I came by here a while ago, and there was no one here, but that is nothing; some one has been here since. I don't mean to say that the person didn't pass here before you came, and I don't mean to say you saw him, but some one did pass, that I know. On your honor—you saw no one?”

“Not a human being.”

[begin page 58]

“That is sufficient; I know you are telling me the truth.”

He began to count the money on the pathⒶalteration in the MS, we on our knees eagerly helping to stack it in little piles.

“It's eleven hundred ducats-odd!”Ⓐalteration in the MS he said, “oh, dear, if it were only mine—and I need it so!” and his voice broke and his lips quivered.

“It is yours, sir!” we all cried out at once, “every heller!”Ⓐalteration in the MS

“No—it isn't mine. Only four ducats areⒶalteration in the MS mine; the rest. . . . .”

He fell to dreaming, poor old soul, and caressing some of the coins in his hands, and forgot where he was, sitting there on his heels with his old gray head bare, and it was pitiful to see.Ⓐalteration in the MS

“No,” he said, wakingⒶalteration in the MS up, “it isn't mine. I can't account for it. I think some enemy . . . . . it must be a trap.”

NikolausⒶalteration in the MS said—

“Father Peter, with the exception of Father AdolfⒶalteration in the MS you haven't a real enemy in the village—nor MargetⒶalteration in the MS, either. And not even a half enemy that's rich enough to chance eleven hundred ducats at one dash to do you a mean turn. I'll ask you if that's so, or not?”

He couldn't get around that argument, and it cheered him up.

“But it isn't mine, you see—it isn't mine, in any case.”

He said it in a wistful way, like a person that wouldn't be sorry, but glad, if somebody would contradict him.

“It is yours, Father Peter, and we are witness to it—aren't we, boys?”

“Yes, we are—and we'll stand by it, too.”

“Bless your hearts, you do almost persuade me, you do, indeed. If I had only a hundred and eighty ducats of it! The house is mortgaged for it, and we've no home for our heads if we don't pay to-morrow. And that four ducats is all we've got in the—”

“It's yours, every bitⒶalteration in the MS of it, and you've got to take it—we are bail that it's all right, aren't we Theodor?Ⓐalteration in the MS aren't we Seppi?”Ⓐalteration in the MS

We two said yes; and NikolausⒶalteration in the MS stuffed the money back into the shabby old wallet and made the owner take it. So he said he would use two hundred of it, for his house was good enough security for that, and would put the rest at interest till the rightful owner came for it; and on our side we must sign a paper showing how he got the [begin page 59] money—a paper to show to the villagers as proof that he had not got out of his troubles dishonestly.