"That means that I shall be a wizard," submissively remarked the hunchback, and then, after pondering a while, he said:
"Are fairies always beautiful?"
"Always."
"Like you?"
"Perhaps. I think they are even more beautiful," she said frankly.
When he was eight years old his sister noticed that when, during their walks, they passed houses in course of construction a strange expression of astonishment always appeared on the boy's face; he would look intently at the people working and then turn his expressionless eyes questioningly to her.
"Does that interest you?" she asked. And he, who spoke little as a rule, replied:
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I don't know."