The only one who was
personally affected by the matter was Stephanopulos. Since he did not
appear to be much troubled, the others might rest content.

So said, so done; and the festive feeling once more burst forth in all
its glory. The wine loosened even the heaviest tongues; every one
sought out the neighbor he liked best; and even the young Greek thawed
out so thoroughly from his ill-humor that he condescended to sing some
of the popular airs of his native land, which earned him great
applause. In the mean while Philip Emanuel Kohle went up and down the
hall, like one of the gracious genii, with head high in air and beaming
look, bearing his goblet in his hand, and drinking toasts with
everybody--to the ideal--to resignation and the gods of Greece--and
declaiming, in the intervals, verses of Hoelderlin.

Schnetz also seemed to be in admirable spirits. He had seated himself
astride of the little cask in the corner, had a few sprigs of
wild-grape vine above his close-cropped head, and was delivering an
oration that no one heard.

When it struck three o'clock, Elfinger was dancing a fandango with the
architect who had recently returned from Spain, Rosenbusch playing an
accompaniment on the flute; and Fat Rossel had placed three empty
glasses before him, on which he beat time with a lead pencil. Felix,
who had also learned the dance in Mexico, relieved Elfinger after a
time, and gradually the excitement seized upon the others. Jansen alone
remained quiet, but his eyes sparkled joyously. He had erected a sort
of throne for old Schoepf upon the table, and had placed a number of
green plants around it. And there the white-haired old man sat, above
all the noise, until the wine warmed him too, and he rose, and with
charming dignity gave vent to all sorts of odd sayings and wise saws.

At four o'clock the wine in the cask ran dry. Schnetz announced this
sorrowful discovery to the dancers, singers, and speakers, with a
funereal mien and pathetic earnestness, and summoned them to pay the
last honors to the deceased. A solemn procession was formed; each
person bore a candle, a blazing piece of kindling wood or anything that
would pass for a torch; and, standing in a semicircle about the cask,
they sang a requiem, at the close of which all the lights were suddenly
extinguished.

And now the pale light of dawn penetrated through the windows, and
Jansen announced that the time had come for the dissolving of the
meeting, which