rk to evolve a
second world from my dreams--one which belonged to me, and from which
no one could bid me depart--a world which was far more beautiful,
sublime, and perfect, than the actual world about me. And as I
wasted no time or strength on anything else--neither in wretched
money-getting, nor in foolish ambition, nor even in hopeless love
affairs--my nature grew up straight and true, and in the greatest
development of which it was capable, which is by no means the case with
every one; and I could not help laughing in my sleeve, when I noticed
that I passed among my friends for a simpleton and a narrow-minded
fool. The truth is, my simpleness was the very thing that contributed
most to my secret contentment, when I saw how seldom the manifold
desires and restless striving of others led to happiness. '_Chi troppo
abbraccia, nulla stringe_,' say the wise Italians. I embrace nothing
but my art; but I embrace it the more passionately because it exists
for me alone. There you have the whole secret. There is a juster
apportionment of good and evil in this world than we are willing to
admit in our hours of depression."

Felix was silent. It was on the tip of his tongue to say that he envied
him. Yet he felt at once how thoroughly right this quiet man was in his
last assertion. He felt that he would not, for all the peace in the
world, have given up his own miserable condition; for, at the same time
that it gave him the keenest anguish, it brought with it the certainty
that so charming a creature as his lost love was still in the world,
and had been brought so painfully near to him again.

When noon came, they were called down into the garden by the
white-haired old woman, who, in her sober moments, was a most excellent
and active servant. The table was laid in a shady arbor near the house.
Rosenbusch and the actor had returned from their different expeditions;
the latter with a basket full of excellent trout, and the other
with a face which showed plainly enough that he too had not come
back unsuccessfully but had gained all he had promised himself from
his morning walk. He was in full gala-dress, consisting of his
violet-colored velvet coat, a white waistcoat, and a gigantic Panama
hat, beneath which his hair and his red beard, which had been shorn to
so little purpose, had already begun to sprout again. His honest,
merry, handsome face was radiant with good-humor; and as Elfinger did
his best to be entertaining, and Fel