"Do you remember him?" asked Pluizer, bursting into a laugh when Johannes grew pale and stared at the man in horror. He had seen him the night before--deep under the ground. The doctor received them kindly, and imparted his wisdom to Johannes who listened for hours that day, and for many days thereafter. The doctor had not yet found what Johannes was seeking; but was very near it, he said. He would take Johannes as far as he himself had gone, and then together they would surely find it. Johannes listened and learned, diligently and patiently, day after day and month after month. He felt little hope, yet he comprehended that he must go on, now, as far as possible. He thought it strange that, seeking the light, the farther he went the darker it grew. Of all he learned, the beginning was the best; but the deeper he penetrated the duller and darker it became. He began with plants and animals--with everything about him--and if he looked a long while at them, they turned to figures. Everything resolved itself into figures--pages full of them. Doctor Cijfer thought that fine, and he said the figures brought light to him;--but it was darkness to Johannes. Pluizer never left him, and pressed and urged him on, if he grew disheartened and weary. He spoiled for him every moment of enjoyment or admiration. Johannes was amazed and delighted as he studied and saw how exquisitely the flowers were constructed; how they formed the fruit, and how the insects unwittingly aided the work. "That is wonderful," said he. "How exactly everything is calculated, and deftly, delicately formed!" "Yes, amazingly formed," said Pluizer. "It is a pity that the greater part of that deftness and fineness comes to naught. How many flowers bring forth fruit, and how many seeds grow to be trees?" "But yet everything seems to be made according to a great plan," said Johannes. "Look! the bees seek honey for their own use, and do not know that they are aiding the flowers; and the flowers allure the bees by their color. It is a plan, and they both unfold it, without knowing it." "That is fine in sound, but it fails in fact. When the bees get a chance they bite a hole deep down in the flower, and upset the whole intricate arrangement. A cunning craftsman that, to let a bee make sport of him!" And when he came to the study of men and animals--their wonderful construction--matters went still worse. In all that looked beautiful to Johannes, or ingenious, Pluizer pointed out the incompleteness and defects. He showed him the great army of ills and sorrows that can assail mankind and animals, with preference for the most loathe-some and most hideous.