“You?—my heart?” cried Peter in terror. “But then I should die on the spot? Never!”
“Yes, if one of these gentlemen, the surgeons, were to try and cut the heart out of thy body, thou wouldst die, sure enough; but it is not so when I do it. Come hither and be convinced.”
With these words, he opened a door and led Peter into an adjoining room.
The lad’s heart sank, with a painful quiver, as he stepped over the threshold; but he did not notice it, so startling and amazing was the sight that met his eyes. On sundry wooden shelves stood glass jars, filled with a transparent fluid, and in every one of these jars lay a heart. Moreover, each jar was labelled and bore a name, which Peter read with eager curiosity. Here was the heart of the sheriff of F., and there the heart of fat Ezekiel, and the heart of the “dancers’ king,” and of the head-forester; there were six hearts belonging to corn-brokers, eight to recruiting officers, three to usurers—in fact, it was a collection of the most respectable hearts for twenty miles round.
“See!” said Dutch Michael, “all these have cast away the cares and sorrows of life; not one of these hearts beats anxiously or heavily any more, and their former owners feel all the better for having got this restless guest out of their house.”
“But what do they carry in their breasts instead?” asked Peter, who felt quite confused and giddy from all he had seen and heard.
“This,” answered the other, and reached out to him, from a drawer which he had opened, a stone heart.
“This!” echoed Peter, and could not prevent a cold shiver from going over him. “A heart of marble. But surely, Master Dutch Michael, such a one must feel very cold in a man’s breast?”
“Certainly; but the coolness is really quite pleasant. Why should a heart be warm, after all? In winter, a good dram will warm thee better; and in summer, when all is sultry and hot, it’s past belief how comfortably such a heart as this cools a fellow down. And, as I said before, neither fear nor care, neither foolish pity nor other men’s sorrow, can knock at the door of such a heart.”