The stars glittered; the landscape turned to silver in
the moonlight; I thought of the Lady fair, and of my far-off home, and
quite forgot the painter at my side. Herr Eckbrecht had occasionally
to tune his instrument; whereat he grew downright angry, and at last
he screwed a string so tight that it broke, whereupon he tossed aside
the guitar and sprang to his feet, noticing for the first time that
my painter had laid his head on his arm upon the table and was fast
asleep. He hastily wrapped around him a white cloak which hung on a
bough near by, then suddenly paused, glanced keenly at my painter, and
then at me several times, then seated himself on the table directly
in front of me, cleared his throat, settled his cravat, and instantly
began to hold forth to me. "Beloved hearer and fellow-countryman,"
he said, "since the bottles are nearly empty, and morality is
indisputably the first duty of a citizen when the virtues are on the
wane, I feel myself moved, out of sympathy for a fellow-countryman,
to present for your consideration a few moral axioms. It might be
supposed," he went on, "that you are a mere youth, whereas your coat
has evidently seen its best years; it might be supposed that you had
leaped about like a satyr; nay, some might maintain that you are a
vagabond, because you are out here in the country and play the fiddle;
but I am influenced by no such superficial considerations; I form my
judgment on your delicately chiseled nose; I take you for a strolling
genius.
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