w heavily he should be weighted on leaving
the world--burdened with the tears of the poor, with thousands of their
curses, with the agony of the poor wretches on whom he had set his
dogs, with the silent despair of his mother, with the blood of the good
and beautiful Lisbeth; and if he could not give an account to the old
man, her father, if he should come and ask, "Where is my daughter?" how
should he respond to the question of Another, to whom all forests, all
seas, all mountains, and the lives of all mortals, belong?

His sleep was disturbed by dreams, and every few moments he was
awakened by a sweet voice calling to him: "Peter, get a warmer heart!"
And when he woke he quickly closed his eyes again; for the voice that
gave him this warning was the voice of Lisbeth, his wife.

The following day he went to the tavern to drown his reflections in
drink, and there he met the Stout Ezekiel. He sat down by him; they
talked about this and that, of the fine weather, of the war, of the
taxes, and finally came to talk about death, and how this and that one
had died suddenly. Peter asked Ezekiel what he thought about death and
a future life. Ezekiel replied that the body was buried, but that the
soul either rose to heaven or descended to hell.

"But do they bury one's heart also?" asked Peter, all attention,

"Why, certainly, that is also buried."

"But how would it be if one did not have his heart any longer?"
continued Peter.

Ezekiel looked at him sharply as he spoke those words. "What do you
mean by that? Do you imagine that I haven't a heart?"

"Oh, you have heart enough, and as firm as a rock," replied Peter.

Ezekiel stared at him in astonishment, looked about him to see if any
one had overheard Peter, and then said:

"Where do you get this knowledge? Or perhaps yours does not beat any
more?"

"It does not beat any more, at least not here in my breast!" answered
Peter Munk. "But tell me--now that you know what I mean--how will it be
with our hearts!"

"Why should that trouble you, comrade?" asked Ezekiel laughing. "We
have a pleasant course to run on earth, and that's enough. It is
certainly one of the best things about our cold hearts, that we
experience no fear in the face of such thoughts."

"Very true; but still one will think on these subjects, and although I
do not know what fear is, yet I can remember how much I feared hell
when I was a small and innocent boy."

"Well, it certainly won't go very ea