nest. The main point is, not to impugn the
uprightness of believers, and then they are inclined not to question
the uprightness of us unbelievers."

They went on farther to another house, and the Doctor said:--

"Here dwelt a merry rogue, who has actually made the house haunted; he
was an old screech-owl, a mason by trade. It's known that he had a
little chest made by a carpenter, with a lock by a lock-smith; and this
chest he walled into the cellar, which he built alone by himself. It is
now believed that there must have been a considerable sum of money
concealed therein; and yet he may have been rogue enough to hide there
an empty box, in order to play a joke upon those who should come after
him. And now the people are undecided whether to pull down the house or
not, in order to find the box. It's possible they may find an empty
one, and have a demolished house for their pains."

The Doctor gave such a turn to his information about men and things,
that Roland could derive advantage from it.

The Doctor greeted in a very friendly way an old man with a crafty
countenance, who was sitting in front of his house. The man asked the
physician if he would not take another drop of "the black cat," and
they went with Eric and Roland into the cellar, where they drank a
fiery wine from a cask on which, in fact, a black cat was sitting,
though it was an artificial one with shining glass eyes. The old man
was excessively merry; and clinking glasses with Roland, he said:--

"Yes, yes, we are all bunglers compared with your father."

Then, with great gusto, he praised the shrewdness and craft of
Sonnenkamp, and Eric looked timidly at Roland, who appeared to be but
little affected by what was said; when they went away the Doctor
said:--

"This is the genuine peasant, for the genuine peasant is really the
greatest egotist, thinking only of his own profit, though the whole
world beside should fall to pieces. This is the old burgomaster who
lent money to people needing it, and when a bad season came, he made an
immediate demand for it, with unrelenting harshness, so that their
vineyards were sold at public auction; and now he possesses a large
landed property, yielding the best wines. Yes; he is a cunning rascal."

This narrative produced a wholly different impression upon Eric from
what it did upon Roland, for the latter considered that the rascality
was a matter of course. Eric looked askance at the Doctor, for he could
not co