When Daniel came in, the Goose Man got up and went over to him, greeted him, and said in a kindly, confidential tone: “Are you back so soon? We have had such a nice time!”
In the room, however, there was the same haze that had settled down over the city when Daniel left the fountain. Agnes and Gottfried were seized with a terrible fear. The boy began to cry; Agnes threw her arms around him and cried too.
Daniel went up to them, and said: “Don’t cry! I’m with you. You don’t need to cry any more!”
He sat down on the same seat on which the Goose Man had been sitting, looked at the tiny paper figures, and, smiling, continued the game the Goose Man had been playing with them.
Gottfried became quiet and Agnes happy.
“Good-night!” cried the Goose Man, “now I am again myself, and you are you.”
He nodded kindly and disappeared.
VI
That same evening six of Daniel’s pupils came in. They had heard that he had been removed from his position at the conservatory.