"Give you my heart?" shrieked the horrified Peter. "Why I should fall
down dead on the spot! Not if I can help it!"

"Of course, if one of your master surgeons were to remove your heart,
then you would die to a certainty; but with me it is quite another
matter. But just come in here and satisfy yourself."

Saying which, he opened a door leading into another room, and bade
Peter follow him. As the latter crossed the threshold his heart
contracted convulsively, but he did not notice it, for the sight which
now presented itself to him was too weird and amazing. On a number of
wooden shelves stood glass-vessels filled with some transparent fluid,
and in each of these was a human heart. Moreover, to every vessel was
affixed a label upon which a name had been inscribed, several of which
Peter's curiosity drove him to read. Here was the heart of the mayor of
a neighbouring town; there, that of Fat Ezekiel; in the next vessel lay
the heart of the Dance-King; further on, was the head-forester's heart.
Here were also six hearts of well-known corn-brokers, eight belonging
to conscription overseers, three to money lenders; in short, it was a
collection of hearts of the most respected people in the district for
twenty miles round.

"Look," said Dutch Michael, "all these people have shaken themselves
free from the cares and troubles of life! These hearts beat anxiously
and painfully no longer, and their original owners rejoice that they
have been able to rid themselves of such restless companions."

"But what do they carry in their breasts in place of these?" asked
Peter, who was quite faint with all that he had seen.

"This!" answered the other, as he took from a drawer _a heart of
stone_.

"What?" cried Peter, unable to repress a shudder which affected his
entire frame. "_A heart of marble?_ But, if it is as you say, Master
Dutch Michael, such a thing must feel very cold inside one's bosom."

"Not exactly cold, but quite pleasantly cool. Why should one's heart be
warm? It doesn't keep you warm in winter--a good glass of spirits is
far better for that purpose than a warm heart; while in summer, when it
is so hot and close, you cannot think how cooling is the effect of such
a heart as this. Besides which, as I have already told you, such a
heart as this never throbs with anguish or terror, with foolish
compassion or with any other emotion."

"And is that all that you have to give me?" asked Peter disappointedly.
"I hoped fo