Ah, you are such an illogical, unreasoning race! And paltry--oh, unspeakably!" Then he dropped all seriousness and just overstrained himself making fun of us, and deriding our pride in our warlike deeds, our great heroes, our imperishable fames, our mighty kings, our ancient aristocracies, our venerable history--and laughed and laughed till it was enough to make a person sick to hear him; and finally he sobered a little and said, "But, after all, it is not all ridiculous; there is a sort of pathos about it when one remembers how few are your days, how childish your pomps, and what shadows you are!" Presently all things vanished suddenly from my sight, and I knew what it meant.

The next moment we were walking along in our village; and down toward the river I saw the twinkling lights of the Golden Stag.

Then in the dark I heard a joyful cry: "He's come again!" It was Seppi Wohlmeyer.

He had felt his blood leap and his spirits rise in a way that could mean only one thing, and he knew Satan was near, although it was too dark to see him.

He came to us, and we walked along together, and Seppi poured out his gladness like water.