he coast,
have moved here from a distance and trouble themselves very little
about the Cassubian backwoods, because they derive little profit from
that source and are dependent upon entirely different sources. The
sources upon which they are dependent are the regions with which they
have commercial relations, and as their commerce brings them into
touch with the whole world you will find among them people from every
nook and corner of the earth, even here in our good Kessin, in spite
of the fact that it is nothing but a miserable hole."

"Why, that is perfectly charming, Geert. You are always talking about
the miserable hole, but I shall find here an entirely new world, if
you have not exaggerated. All kinds of exotics. That is about what you
meant, isn't it?"

He nodded his head.

"An entirely new world, I say, perhaps a negro, or a Turk, or perhaps
even a Chinaman."

"Yes, a Chinaman, too. How well you can guess! It may be that we still
have one. He is dead now and buried in a little fenced-in plot of
ground close by the churchyard. If you are not easily frightened I
will show you his grave some day. It is situated among the dunes, with
nothing but lyme grass around it, and here and there a few
immortelles, and one always hears the sea. It is very beautiful and
very uncanny."

"Oh, uncanny? I should like to know more about it. But I would better
not. Such stories make me have visions and dreams, and if, as I hope,
I sleep well tonight, I should certainly not like to see a Chinaman
come walking up to my bed the first thing."

"You will not, either."

"Not, either? Upon my word, that sounds strange, as though, after all,
it were possible. You seek to make Kessin interesting to me, but you
carry it a trifle too far. And have you many such foreigners in
Kessin?"

"A great many. The whole population is made up of such foreigners,
people whose parents and grandparents lived in an entirely different
region."

"Most remarkable. Please tell me more about them. But no more creepy
stories. I feel that there is always something creepy about a
Chinaman."

"Yes, there is," laughed Geert, "but the rest, thank heaven, are of an
entirely different sort, all mannerly people, perhaps a little bit too
commercial, too thoughtful of their own advantage, and always on hand
with bills of questionable value. In fact, one must be cautious with
them. But otherwise they are quite agreeable. And to let you see that
I have not been