"Yes, certainly it would. I quite agree with you about everything except about Silberbach. _That_ is what I cannot get over. You have not enough self-assertion, my dear. I am certain Silberbach is some freak of Herr von Walden's--most unpractical man. Why, I really am not at all sure that you will get anything to eat there." "I am not afraid of _that_ part of it," I replied philosophically. "With plenty of milk, fresh eggs, and bread and butter, we can always get on. And those I suppose we are sure to find." "Milk and eggs--yes, I suppose so. Butter is doubtful once you leave the tourist track, and the bread will be the sour bread of the country." "I don't mind that--nor do the children. But if the worst comes to the worst we need not stay at Silberbach--we can always get away." "That is certainly true; if one can get there, one can, I suppose, always get away," answered Fraeulein Ottilia with a smile, "though I confess it is a curious inducement to name for going _to_ a place--that one can get away from it! However, we need not say any more about it. I see your heart is set on Silberbach, and I am quite sure I shall have the satisfaction of hearing you own I was right in trying to dissuade you from it, when you come back again," she added, rather maliciously. "Perhaps so. But it is not _only_ Silberbach we are going to. We shall see lots of other places. Herr von Walden has planned it all. The first three days we shall travel mostly on foot. I think it will be great fun. Nora and Reggie are enchanted. Of course I would not travel on foot alone with them; it would hardly be safe, I suppose?" "Safe? oh yes, safe enough. The peasants are very quiet, civil people--honest and kindly, though generally desperately poor! But you would be _safe_ enough anywhere in Thuringia. It is not like Alsace, where now and then one does meet with rather queer customers in the forests. So good-bye, then, my dear, for the next two or three weeks--and may you enjoy yourself." "Especially at Silberbach?" "_Even_ at Silberbach--that is to say, even if I have to own you were right and I wrong. Yes, my dear, I am unselfish enough to hope you will return having found Silberbach an earthly paradise." And waving her hand in adieu, kind Fraeulein Ottilia stood at her garden-gate watching me make my way down the dusty road. "She is a little prejudiced, I daresay," I thought to myself. "Prejudiced against Herr von Walden's choice, for I notice every one here has their pet places and their special aversions. I daresay we shall like Silberbach, and if not, we need not stay there after the Waldens leave us. Anyway, I shall be thankful to get out of this heat into the real country."