"Breakfast! which breakfast do you mean?" asked Sperver. "What do you mean by pretending to forget what breakfast? Are not you and I to breakfast this very morning with Doctor Fritz?" "Aha! so we are! I had forgotten all about it." And Offenloch burst into a great laugh which divided his jolly face from ear to ear. "Ha, ha! this is rather beyond a joke. And I was afraid of being too late! Come, let us be moving. Kasper is upstairs waiting. I ordered him to lay the breakfast in your room; I thought we should be more comfortable there. Good-bye for the present, doctor." "Are you not coming up with us?" asked Sperver. "No, I am going to tell the countess that the Baron de Zimmer-Bluderich begs the honour to thank her in person before he leaves the castle." "The Baron de Zimmer?" "Yes, that stranger who came yesterday in the middle of the night." "Well, you must make haste." "Yes, I shall not be long. Before you have done uncorking the bottles I shall be with you again." And he hobbled away as fast as he could. The mention of breakfast had given a different turn to Sperver's thoughts. "Exactly so," he observed, turning back; "the best way to drown all your cares is to drink a draught of good wine. I am very glad we are going to breakfast in my room. Under those great high vaults in the fencing-school, sitting round a small table, you feel just like mice nibbling a nut in a corner of a big church. Here we are, Fritz. Just listen to the wind whistling through the arrow-slits. In half-an-hour there will be a storm." He pushed the door open; and Kasper, who was only drumming with his fingers upon the window-panes, seemed very glad to see us. That little man had flaxen hair and a snub nose. Sperver had made him his factotum; it was he who took to pieces and cleaned his guns, mended the riding-horses' harness, fed the dogs in his absence, and superintended in the kitchen the preparation of his favourite dishes. On grand occasions he was outrider. He now stood with a napkin over his arm, and was gravely uncorking the long-necked bottle of Rhenish. "Kasper," said his master, as soon as he had surveyed this satisfactory state of things--"Kasper, I was very well pleased with you yesterday; everything was excellent; the roast kid, the chicken, and the fish. I like fair-play, and when a man has done his duty I like to tell him so. To-day I am quite as well satisfied. The boar's head looks excellent with its white-wine sauce; so does the crayfish soup. Isn't it your opinion too, Fritz?" I assented. "Well," said Sperver, "since it is so, you shall have the honour of filling our glasses. I mean to raise you step by step, for you are a very deserving fellow." Kasper looked down bashfully and blushed; he seemed to enjoy his master's praises.