humming; and Eric thought that these,
probably, were the bees of Claus, the huntsman.

World passing strange, in which all is so unaccountably associated
together!

The sky was blue, and the blossoms so deliciously fragrant, and yet
Eric, deeply troubled in spirit, seemed to himself to be insnared when
he fixed his eyes upon a notice stuck up over the garden wall, which
ran thus:--

"Warning. Spring-guns and steel-traps in this garden."

He looked around to Sonnenkamp, who said, smiling,--

"Your look asks me if that notice yonder is true; it is just as that
says. People think that no one dares to do that now. Keep always in the
path near me."

Sonnenkamp appeared to enjoy Eric's perplexity and annoyance. And yet
it was a lie, for there were no spring-guns nor steel-traps in the
garden.

On this part of the wall, stars, circles, and squares, were shaped out
of the tree-twigs; and Sonnenkamp laid his hand upon the shoulder of
Eric, as the latter asserted that number and geometric form were given
only to man. Geometric form, indeed, was the basis of all
manifestation, and the straight line was never actually seen, but must
be wholly the product of man's conception. This was also the
characteristic mystery in the doctrine of Pythagoras.

"I have thought for a long time," Sonnenkamp said with a laugh, "that I
was a Pythagorean. I thank you for nominating me as one of the sect. We
must christen our new art of gardening the Pythagorean."

This outburst was in a bantering tone of contempt and satisfaction.

They came to the place called Nice, by the colonnade constructed in the
Pompeian style, which extended very far on the second terrace of the
orchard.

"Now I will show you my house," Sonnenkamp said, pressing against a
little door which opened upon a subterranean passage, and conducting
his guest into the habitation.

CHAPTER XII.

A LOOK INTO THE HOUSE AND INTO THE HEART.

Men-servants and maid-servants in the under-ground rooms were amazed to
see Sonnenkamp and Eric make their entrance. Sonnenkamp, without
noticing them, said to Eric in English:--

"The two things to be first considered by a man consulting for repose,
as I am, are the kitchen and the stable."

He showed him the kitchen. There were dozens of different fire-places
for the different dishes, and each kind of meat and vegetables; each
viand had its special dish and pan, fire on the side