Now a little
spring world came rolling up to him and revolving around him in its
fragrant orbit. He would have to adapt himself to it--and that would be
no simple matter.

Deeply moved, both of them, they reached the Rauchfuss farm, and found
all sorts of guests awaiting them. The Kirsten girls and their friends,
Frau Marianne's boarders and the little widow herself, and some of the
bachelors were there.

To all of these the guest who had dropped from the clouds seemed a
doubtful addition. They had come up to have a look round, and they
found Beate joyous and rosy. She greeted them all more warmly than had
been her wont. Each felt himself specially made welcome.

The new guest stood there, thin and angular in his gray suit in which
he had emerged as a pike from the water, and looked none too well
pleased at the coming and going, at the chatter and the laughter.

"The fellow hasn't accomplished anything here--that skeleton!" said one
of the boarders. He himself showed the good results of Frau Marianne's
care. Her idea was to keep one of the two always well taken care of for
herself--that was her fixed policy, because in any case she wanted to
have one of the two to console her.

The Raven-mother was grumbling because this evening she had all the
labor of preparing supper; but the table under the trees was spread,
and old Sperber, who came to see how they were getting on, announced
that he would provide a punch.

The Kirsten girls and their friends brought the wine from the Sperber
farm and worked reverently and busily at the brewing of the punch. When
it mingled its fragrance with the perfume of the young foliage and the
blooming lilacs, the mood of the assemblage was a. festive one. The
girls began to sip and to laugh, the young men became more lively, old
Sperber nursed his glass lovingly with both hands, as if to caress the
soft golden liquor. The engraver drank not in a festive manner, but in
the measured yet not ungenerous fashion to which he was used at his inn
among his accustomed companions. It was not such an extraordinary
occasion to him as it was to the rather sober-minded guests here. They
were frugal people; the Sperbers and the Weimar folks were in the habit
of drinking of an evening the honest home-brewed stuff that was brought
in open pails from the town hall and then bottled.

The engraver held his glass in his hand and gazed into it. "On my way
to this Promised Land of yours," he said, "I sat i