Peter of Stellen,' cried the other. They embraced each other,
and could hardly contain themselves for joy at this unexpected meeting.

"They were indeed playfellows, who had met by accident in the verdant
Spessart. Their fathers had been friends, and the sons had often
played at bat and ball together; had quarrelled a hundred times, and as
often made it up again. However, young Peter was always more quiet and
reflective than his playfellow, who thought about nothing but the names
of weapons and riding-equipage. At last Peter declared to his father
that he wished to become learned, and he went to Cologne to sit at the
feet of the celebrated Albertus Magnus, who was master of all the human
sciences then known, and of whom, report said, that he was also deeply
initiated in the occult arts.

"A considerable time had elapsed, since either of the playfellows had
heard any thing of the other. After the first storm of joy had
subsided, and breakfast was removed, the knight asked the student what
had occurred to him.

"'To that, my friend, I can give a very short answer, and ought to give
thee a very long one. A short one, if I merely portray the outward
form and shell of my life hitherto; a long one--ah, an infinitely long
one, if thou desirest to taste the inner kernel of this shell.'

"'Eh, silly fellow,' cried the knight, 'what hard discourse is this?
Give the shell and a bit of the kernel, if the whole nut is too large
for a single meal.'

"'Then know,' replied the other, 'that my visible course of life was
between narrow banks. I dwelt in a little dark street, at the back of
a house inhabited by quiet people. My window looked upon a garden to
the trees and shrubs of which a solemn background was formed by the
wall of the Templars' house. I kept myself very solitary, associating
neither with the citizens, nor with the students. The result is that I
know nothing about the large city, except the street leading from my
house to the Dominican convent, where my great master taught. When I
returned to my cell, and had kept awake till midnight by my studying
lamp, I sometimes looked out of window to cool my heated eyes by
exposure to the deep starry heaven. I then often saw a light in the
Templars' house opposite; the knights in the white mantles of their
order passed along the galleries, like spirits in the glare of red
torches, vanished behind the pillars, and re-appeared. In the extreme
corner of the wing, cu