and drink her health." And in
spite of all I could say he forced me to return to the garden with
him.

It looked quite deserted. The merry company had departed, and were
sauntering toward Rome, each lad with his lass upon his arm. We
could hear them talking and laughing among the vineyards in the quiet
evening, until at last their voices died away in the valley below,
lost in the rustling of the trees and the murmur of the stream. I
stayed with my painter and Herr Eckbrecht, which was the name of the
other young painter who had been quarreling with the maid. The moon
shone brilliantly through the tall, dark evergreens; a candle on the
table before us flickered in the breeze and gleamed over the wine
spilled copiously around it. I had to sit down with my companions, and
my painter chatted with me about my native village, my travels, and
my plans for the future. Herr Eckbrecht had seated upon his knee the
pretty girl who had brought us our wine, and was teaching her the
accompaniment of a song on the guitar. Her slender fingers soon picked
out the correct chords, and they sang together an Italian song;
first he sang a verse, and then the girl sang the next; it sounded
deliciously, in the clear, bright evening. When the girl was called
away, Herr Eckbrecht, taking no further notice of us, leaned back on
his bench with his feet on a low stool and played and sang many an
exquisite song. The stars glittered; the landscape turned to silver in
the moonlight; I thought of the Lady fair, and of my far-off home, and
quite forgot the painter at my side. Herr Eckbrecht had occasionally
to tune his instrument; whereat he grew downright angry, and at last
he screwed a string so tight that it broke, whereupon he tossed aside
the guitar and sprang to his feet, noticing for the first time that
my painter had laid his head on his arm upon the table and was fast
asleep. He hastily wrapped around him a white cloak which hung on a
bough near by, then suddenly paused, glanced keenly at my painter, and
then at me several times, then seated himself on the table directly
in front of me, cleared his throat, settled his cravat, and instantly
began to hold forth to me. "Beloved hearer and fellow-countryman,"
he said, "since the bottles are nearly empty, and morality is
indisputably the first duty of a citizen when the virtues are on the
wane, I feel myself moved, out of sympathy for a fellow-countryman,
to present for your consideration a few mor