laying his hand
confidentially on his shoulder: "The lawyer is certainly a clever, well
educated man--and yet he thinks that the birds call him! Between you
and me, Doctor, hasn't it ever occurred to you, that he is not quite
right--?"

After luncheon Dr. Maerz's patients went out into the garden as usual.
They trotted along in little groups, one after the other, round and
round the biggest flower bed, at equal distances, silently, lost in
thought. Only the "Inventor," a young man, sometimes paused, rested his
hand on his side, put his other hand to his forehead and gazed steadily
at a point on the ground.

The lawyer was watering his flowers and listening delightedly to the
thousands and thousands of birds that were hopping in the bushes and
treetops. Michael Petroff was in high good humor. There was news--!
Just listen! Just listen! He was smoking a cigarette that Dr. Maerz had
given him, and was enjoying every whiff of it. He held the cigarette
with his fingers coquettishly crossed, and swung it in sweeping curves,
as if he were taking off his hat to some one, and at every whiff he
drew, he stood still and blew the smoke up into the sunny air and
watched the blue cloud drift away. Everything gave him pleasure. Even
walking was a delight to him. His steps were short, his knees sprung
playfully; and he felt with delight how his toes crackled a little and
how the elastic balls of his feet rebounded in his thin soled shoes
from the ground, while his heels touched the path but lightly and his
knees swung. When he stood still, he set the muscles of his thighs, by
a certain pressure of the knees, and then enjoyed the firmness with
which he stood there like a statue. He was convinced that nothing could
have knocked him down. He walked along smiling and glancing cheerfully
about him, as if to share his happiness. He greeted everyone, and
whenever he met an acquaintance he would tell him the great event that
had happened today.

"Just hear this, my friend!" he called out to the little lawyer, who
was standing on the lawn, stooping over a tulip bed to water the
flowers in the middle of it. "Do come over here! There is such news!
Oh, please do come!"

He waited with friendly impatience until the lawyer had finished and
came back to the path, meaning to go back to the well with his empty
green can. "I want to tell you what has happened today," he began
hastily, "His Majesty the king of Saxony has condescended--"

"Pardo