"He fed me very well," Franz declared, "but I have been thinking."
"And what has occupied your thoughts?" Anton asked.
"A very great man I knew in Dornblatt," Franz answered. "His name is Professor Luttman, and he is a teacher, and it is in no way his fault because I am too stupid to grasp what he tried to teach."
"Not everyone may understand the wisdom that is written in books," Anton said.
"That I know," agreed Franz. "But I cannot escape a feeling that I betrayed Professor Luttman. I am sure he knows I am just a maronnier at St. Bernard Hospice. Father Paul, the village priest who acted on my behalf in order that I might come here, would have told him. I am also sure that, on the day he expelled me from his school, he knew I would always hold a humble station."
"He is a wise man?" Anton questioned.
"Very wise," Franz replied.
"The wise do not have to be told that the world is made up of the humble and the mighty," Anton said. "They know that much from their own wisdom. Think no more about it."
"I cannot help thinking about it," Franz said in a troubled voice. "I would like to prove to Professor Luttman that a maronnier's is a good life. Since I cannot, are you ready to have me start cleaning the stable?"
"Today I clean the stable," Anton said. "It is not that you have failed to do it very well, but you have worked hard and long. This shall be a free day for you and Caesar."