"But who obliges them?" asked Johan.
Quint thought for a moment, and then he said: "Those who have the gift."
"But what is the gift?" asked Johan.
"That I can't tell you," said Quint. "All I know is that some have it and others haven't."
"Did Doctor Sebastian have the gift?" asked Johan.
"No," said Quint, "he was a learned man and a very good man; but he hadn't got the gift. But young Frantz: he's got it. That's why I am here to-day."
"Are the people of the other stops here too?" asked Johan, who was deeply interested in what Quint told him.
"They've all gone home," said Quint. "You see, as long as the player plays, we can stay here and not come out except just when we're wanted; but if we don't get back into the pipes before the player has finished, we can't go home. Now just before Frantz finished I crept out of my pipe because I wasn't wanted, and I wished to look at the cathedral, and then suddenly he stopped playing, before I could get back into my pipe again, and if we are not in our pipes when the organist stops playing we can't get home."
"What will you do then?" asked Johan.
"I shall have to wait till he plays again to-morrow. I can get into a pipe of course, but I can't go home."