Ernst did not at once reply,--he stood gazing steadily at the blue distance; but after two or three minutes he said, "I want to drive to Oberstein to-morrow; order the carriage, if you please."
Gronau looked at him, surprised: "To Oberstein? Do you intend making an excursion?"
"Yes; I wish to ascend the Wolkenstein."
"You mean to the cliffs."
"No, to the summit."
"Now? At this season? It is impossible, Herr Waltenberg. You know the summit has always been inaccessible."
"That is the very reason why it attracts me. I have stayed on here to make the ascent, but I could do nothing in the weather we have had. Get me a couple of competent guides----"
"There are none such to be had for the ascent you speak of," Gronau gravely interrupted him.
"Why not? Because of that old nurse's tale? Offer the men a large sum of money; 'tis a sure cure for superstition."
"Possibly; but it might well fail here, for the old nurse's tale has a background of indubitable reality, as we have seen. The avalanche and the ruin it wrought are too fresh in the memory of the mountaineers."