down at the floor, and went away with
heavy, rumbling step but silent lips. The Goose Man folded his arms
across his breast, and looked at Doederlein thoughtfully.

"He is said to have taken to drinking," remarked Benda, "is said to be
living a wild, dissipated life. It seems incredible to me. The
Doederleins are generally content to stroll in lust along the banks of
the slimy sea of vice and let other people fall in. The Doederleins are
born in false ermine, and they die in false ermine."

"And yet he is a human being," said the Goose Man, so that only Daniel
could hear him.

Daniel sighed.

IV

It was late at night. Daniel could not sleep. The Goose Man crouched at
his feet on the edge of the bed, and looked at him as one looks at a
dear brother who is suffering intense pain.

"I cannot deny that it is difficult for you to continue your life," said
the Goose Man, trying to subdue his bright voice. "When we sum up your
situation, we see day following day, night following night, and nothing
happening that can be a cause for rejoicing. Everything has been cut
off; the threads have all been broken; the foundation on which you
built has been completely annihilated. You are like the mother of many
children who loses them all, all of them, on a single day by one
terrible stroke. The labour of years remains unrewarded; your work has
been in vain; in vain the blood your heart has poured out, the
deprivations you have submitted to; your whole past is like a bad,
disordered dream. Oh, I understand full well; I appreciate your
situation. It seems hard, very hard, to go on and not to despair."

Daniel covered his face with his hands and moaned.

"Have you ever asked yourself how the hand of murder came to strike you?
Ah, this Philippina! This daughter of Jason Philip! I am almost four
hundred years old, but such a person I have never seen or known. But
look back over your past! Do it just once! Open your eyes; they are pure
now and capable of beholding. Have you not suffered the Devil to live by
your side, to take part in your life? And were you not at the same time
impatient with the angels who spread their wings about you as my geese
spread theirs about me? The Devil has grown fat from you. The vampire
has battened on you, has fed on your blood. All this comes about when
one is unwilling to give, when one merely takes and takes and takes.
That makes the Devil fat; the vampire becomes