ty courtesy, and went to
the little man, taking the guitar from his hands, and going with him to
a table at some distance.

When Euchar looked round him, he perceived Ludwig sitting not far off,
between two respectable townsfolk, with a great glass of beer before
him, making the most earnest signs. Euchar went to him, saying, with a
laugh, "Why, Ludwig, when did you take to drinking beer?" Ludwig,
however, made signals to him, and said, in meaning accents, "What do
you say? Beer is one of the most delicious of drinks, and I delight in
it above all things--when it is so magnificent as it is here."

The citizens rose, and Ludwig shook hands with them most politely,
putting on a look which was half-pleased, half-annoyed, when they
expressed at parting their regret for his mishap.

"You are always getting me into hot water with your want of tact," he
said. "If I hadn't allowed myself to be treated to a glass of beer, if
I hadn't managed to gulp the abominable trash down--those sturdy
counter-jumpers would probably have been offended, and would have
looked upon me as one of the profane. Then you must needs come and
bring me into discredit, when I had been playing my part so very
nicely."

"Well," said Euchar, "if you had been bowed out of their company, or
even come in for a little touch of cudgelling, wouldn't it all have
been a part of the mutual interdependence of things? But just listen as
I tell you what a charming little drama your trip over the tree-root
(predestined, according to the conditions of the Macrocosmus, to occur)
gave me an opportunity of seeing."

And he told him about the charming egg dance by the Spanish girl.
"Mignon!" cried Ludwig enthusiastically. "Heavenly, divine Mignon!"

The guitarist was sitting not far off, at a table, counting the
receipts, and the girl was standing beside him, squeezing an orange
into a glass of water. Presently the old man put the money together,
and nodded to the girl with eyes sparkling with gladness, whilst she
handed him the orange-water, and stroked his wrinkled cheeks. He gave a
disagreeable, cackling laugh, and gulped down the liquid with every
indication of thirst. The girl sat down and began tinkling on the
guitar. "Oh Mignon!" cried Ludwig again. "Heavenly, divine Mignon! Ah,
I shall rescue her, like another Wilhelm Meister, from the thraldom of
this accursed miscreant who holds her in bondage!" "How do you know,"
asked Euchar, "that this little hunchback is