It was to be a far journey, and wonderful and beautiful; and Nikolaus had begged him to take us, too, but he said no, he would take us some day, maybe, but not now.
Satan would come for him on the 13th, and Nikolaus was already counting the hours, he was so impatient.
That was the fatal day.

We were already counting the hours, too.
We wandered many a mile, always following paths which had been our favorites from the days when we were little, and always we talked about the old times.

All the blitheness was with Nikolaus; we others could not shake off our depression.

Our tone toward Nikolaus was so strangely gentle and tender and yearning that he noticed it, and was pleased; and we were constantly doing him deferential little offices of courtesy, and saying, "Wait, let me do that for you," and that pleased him, too.

I gave him seven fish-hooks--all I had--and made him take them; and Seppi gave him his new knife and a humming-top painted red and yellow--atonements for swindles practised upon him formerly, as I learned later, and probably no longer remembered by Nikolaus now.