happen, or should he confess and draw on himself the punishment he deserved?
"Leave that to me, and I'll tell my father the story tonight. He won't be angry at all, and he will be perfectly delighted to hear all about the dragoon. I know him."
"Aren't you afraid of your father?"
"One is never afraid to do a favour to somebody. See, now we are on the highway. You must walk criss-cross to that little house further along, the one that says Althäusli on it. Lie down on the bench by the front door, and wait and see what happens. What are you waiting for now? Why do you look at me that funny way?"
Gerold looked down at his boots in embarrassment. He stammered that he was very grateful for everything and he was sorry he had started in by beating the Foolish Student, but he couldn't say what he meant because no matter how hard he tried, he simply could not utter the fatal words.
The Fool laughed. "What is meant is as good as done. I'll consider it said."
But Gerold did not feel satisfied. He thought it would be a fine and noble thing to say, "I beg your pardon." He would like to be told just how to go about it so as to be able to speak the formula out loud.
"You will say it of your own accord some day, when you love somebody very much indeed. The four little words will jump right out of your mouth, all at once, feet first, like a horse going over a hedge. Now, have you anything else on your mind?"
"Yes, the worst thing of all." And he told about the paper he had found that morning down in the hollow among the
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