dy. Our daily supply of provisions is exhausted, and
there is no attendant spirit at hand whom I could send to the neighbors
in quest of aid. I have only old Katie out here, and she--"

"Does she still live, that venerable virgin with the silver locks, who
thinks how she might have had children, and grandchildren, and shakes
her head?" cried the battle-painter. "Come, Elfinger, it behooves us to
go and offer our homage to the lady and mistress of the house."

"You will have to curb your impatience until morning, my dear Rosebud;
the old woman has taken it into her head to relieve the loneliness of
the long winter out here on the lake by making _Enzian schnapps_, and
diligently devotes herself the whole summer long to the consumption of
her own manufacture, so that she is good for nothing after eight
o'clock. The most tender flute-serenade would not wake her from her
deathlike Enzian sleep. Were it not that she is reasonably sober during
the day, is a good cook, and is as faithful as an old dog, I would have
sent her to the hospital long ago."

In the mean time, Rosenbusch had paid off and sent away the boatman,
whom he never spoke of except as the "Fergen," and now rushed up the
steps to the balcony, where, with a merry jodel he threw himself into a
chair, and drank the health of the others from Kohle's half-filled
glass.

"'Well for the rich and happy house,
That counts such gift but small!'"

he cried. "Long life to you, dear _Westoestlicher_. Truly, Rossel, there
are moments when I acknowledge and honor the old proverb, 'Wisdom is
good, especially with an inheritance.' If I could call a spot of earth
like this mine, I myself would try to be as wise as you, and no longer
assist at the decline of modern art. But no; after all, I couldn't
stand doing nothing but feeding my white-mice and giving myself up to
intellectual laziness. However, enough of this. Out here is truce and
neutral territory, and I know what I owe to hospitality."

"Since you began it yourself," said Rossel, with a smile, "I have a
single favor to ask of you. I have a number of song-birds in my garden,
and I am afraid you will drive them from me if you give a loose rein to
your baleful passion for music. They will acknowledge your superior
genius, and shrink from competition. If you positively must play, row
out upon the lake. There is a southwest wind which will waft the
strains across to the castle over opposite, where th