_Thank_ you!'--Well, Charles, from that moment I lost all faith in the water-doctor, and without faith they can do nothing as they themselves tell you when it comes to the point. So I went away quietly and got old Metz, the surgeon at Rahnstädt, to draw out the stings. That was the end of the water-cure; still it's a good thing; one gets new ideas in a place like that, and even if one's gout is not cured, one gains some notion of what a human being can suffer. And now, Charles, this is a water-book I have brought you, you can study it in the winter-evenings."--Hawermann thanked him, and the conversation was changed to farming, and then to the two apprentices.--"Well," asked Bräsig, "how's your pupil, Mr. von Rambow, getting on?"--"Very well, indeed, Bräsig, he's getting to understand the work, I'm only sorry I can't have him more with me. He does what he has to do without loss of time, and more than that, I know from Daniel Sadenwater that he spends many a night by my old master's sick-bed, even though he must often be very tired. He's like the man mentioned in the Bible whose hand always finds something to do, and whose heart is full of love."--"Well, Charles, your greyhound?"--"Oh, he isn't so bad, he has a lot of maggots in his head, but there's no harm in him. He does what he is told, though he's sometimes a little forgetful--but so were we at his age."--"The best thing about your lads is that they are strong. I was at Christian Klockmann's, and he has a son of fourteen who isn't at all well. He complains of feeling tired all day long, and is always half asleep. He won't eat at proper times, and when out in the fields always wants something to eat."--"Oh, no," said Hawermann, "my boys are not like that."--"And so Mr. Frank watches by the old gentleman at night," said Bräsig, "that's pretty hard work for him. Then the _Counsellor_ must be really ill. Remember me to him, Charles. And now good-by, I must be going, for my lord, the Count, wants to see me about particular business." And Bräsig rode away. The squire had grown very weak in the last few days, he had had another slight stroke, but fortunately it had not affected his speech, and that evening Frank asked Hawermann to go up to the manor-house, for his uncle wanted to speak to him.