' He asked me a few questions,
to which I gave pretty good answers. '_Parbleu!_' he cried, 'Knapwurst
knows more than I do; he shall keep my records.' So he gave me the keys
of the archives; that was thirty years ago. Since that time I have read
every word. Sometimes, when the count sees me mounted upon my ladder, he
says, 'What are you doing now, Knapwurst?' 'I am reading the family
archives, monseigneur.' 'Aha! is that what you enjoy?' 'Yes, very much.'
'Come, come, I am glad to hear it, Knapwurst; but for you, who would
know anything about the glory of the house of Nideck?' And off he goes
laughing. I do just as I please."
"So he is a very good master, is he?"
"Oh, Doctor Fritz, he is the kindest-hearted master! he is so frank and
so pleasant!" cried the dwarf, with hands clasped. "He has but one
fault."
"And what may that be?"
"He has no ambition."
"How do you prove that?"
"Why, he might have been anything he pleased. Think of a Nideck, one of
the very noblest families in Germany! He had but to ask to be made a
minister or a field-marshal. Well! he desired nothing of the sort. When
he was no longer a young man he retired from political life.
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