On the day before the Landlady of the "Lion" had sat down beside him, and after having talked on various matters she suddenly began to congratulate Petrowitsch on taking his quiet walk every day; it kept him in good health, and in this way he might live to be a hundred; in fact he looked as if he would. She honestly hoped he might, he had worked hard enough, and deserved rest and prosperity now. Petrowitsch was shrewd enough to know that there was more than met the ear in all this; he thought, and probably he was right, that the Landlady was so particularly civil to him, because she had designs on his nephew; but she did not say a word of this. She resumed the subject of his daily walk, and said it would be an excellent plan if Petrowitsch would purchase the fine Spannreuter wood at the Morgenhalde, from her husband; he was by no means anxious to part with it, in fact she did not know whether he could be persuaded to sell it at all, but she would like to be the means of procuring for Petrowitsch, the great pleasure of walking in his own wood, which would certainly be much more satisfactory. Petrowitsch thanked her for her singularly delicate attention, but finally said he was quite as well pleased to walk in woods belonging to other people; in fact, on the contrary, at present he had no cause for irritation when he met people stealing the wood, and nothing was more unwholesome before dinner than irritation. The Landlady smiled significantly, saying, "If any one had a clever idea in their head, Petrowitsch was sure to be still more clever." He thanked her again, and both were as sweet as possible to each other, far sweeter in fact, than the pieces of sugar that Petrowitsch, had pocketed from the coffee he had after dinner. It now occurred to Petrowitsch, that the wood would be a very suitable purchase for Lenz, if he could manage to buy it through a third person, for the Landlord would be sure to set a high price on it to himself. This was what he wanted to say to him; an intention which he however gave up, because, as we have seen, he wished to follow the noble principle of caring for no one but himself. His taking any trouble at all on the subject was too much. He found the hill much steeper to climb than usual; for in going up a hill people should not have their thoughts occupied, but only think of breathing freely. Bueble was busy scratching out a mole, although he was sure of a comfortable well dressed dinner very soon, but his master called out to him, "Here! you stupid fellow! what business have you with a mole? Let it burrow as much as it chooses;" and when the dog was trotting by his side he said, "Back!" The dog slunk behind his master, and in the same way the latter cast behind him all intrusive thoughts; he was resolved to banish them altogether, and not disturb the peaceful routine of his life.