Don't you see?"
"I understand you very well, but your ideas seem to me very strange,
Gideon."
"You, Fritz," he went on, without noticing my interruption, "you are
a most excellent lad; Heaven has covered your head with innumerable
blessings; just one glance at your jolly countenance, your frank, clear
eyes, your good-natured smile, is enough to make any one happy. You
positively bring good luck with you. I have always said so, and now would
you like to have a proof?"
"Yes, indeed I should. It would be worth while to know how much there is
in me without my having any knowledge of it."
"Well," said he, grasping my wrist, "look down there!"
He pointed to a hillock at a couple of gunshots from the castle.
"Do you see there a rock half-buried in the snow, with a ragged bush by
its side?"
"Quite well."
"Do you see anything near?"
"No."
"Well, there is a reason for that. You have driven away the Black Plague!
Every year at the second attack there she was holding her feet between
her hands. By night she lighted a fire; she warmed herself and boiled
roots. She bore a curse with her. This morning the very first thing which
I did was to get up here.
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