“I have slept, Johan, but very poorly; I have been dreaming about those puppets all night long.”
“Well, my dear master, your dreams can’t have been very sad, then. Those puppets were very amusing.”
“You thought so, did you? Oh, very well!”
“Why, you laughed at them yourself.”
“Oh yes; one must always laugh, of course. Life is one long, perpetual laugh. A melancholy one, Johan!”
“Ah, master, no black thoughts! What are your orders?”
“None. If I am to die to-day, who can hinder it?”
“Die? What the devil put that into your head? You are looking capitally this morning.”
“But if I should be assassinated?”
“Who would think of any such thing?”