, nor unfortunately did it possess the efficacy to lead one to
a perfect knowledge of oneself; on the other hand it was capable of
forcing any one who used it to be absolutely honest in his dealings with
his neighbours, and that surely was no small gain. Indeed it was enough
to place him among the most famous discoverers in all ages, and to
inscribe his name beside those of the noblest benefactors of man in the
whole round world.

Sleepless, yet filled with triumphant joy, like a general who has won a
glorious victory, he watched through the night. When Frau Schimmel came
to the house on the following morning she found him with the little Zeno
between his knees.

Her suspicion was immediately aroused that the father had misused the
child in order to try the effect of the elixir upon it, and she stood at
the door and listened.

But the little bottle tightly corked peered from the doctor's
breast-pocket and, instead of questioning Zeno, he was talking to him
earnestly:

"Your mother," he was saying, "was more precious to me than life or aught
else, and you, my little one, are dear to me, too, chiefly because it was
she who gave you to me, but who knows if I might not have sacrificed you
if the success of the work, to which I have devoted so many years, had
depended upon it. Now I have reached the goal, and I tell you, my boy,
there are only two joys here below so great as to give a foretaste of the
bliss that awaits us in Paradise: one is the sweet rapture of true love,
and the other, the transport of the inventor when his experiment is
successful. I have known both."

During this speech, which the doctor had made under the influence of the
elixir, the boy stared at his father with open mouth, undecided whether
to be afraid, or to consider it all a jest and laugh.

Frau Schimmel made an end of his doubt, for she could not bring herself
to stand by patiently and have the child confused by such extraordinary
sentiments. She interrupted the doctor: "Little Zeno finds his pleasure
in very different ways, don't you, my lamb? You would rather have your
father send you to market with Frau Schimmel who buys cherries for you,
wouldn't you? Cherries are better for children than 'true love,' and all
the other nonsense that men worry themselves about."

The doctor only laughed and said "One day he will learn for himself what
his father meant, and if you wish to buy him cherries, you good old soul,
take him along with you and