'I don't want to eat them,' said Leonore, 'but I should like to keep them,' and she stowed them away in her pocket again with a more satisfied look on her face.
As she did so, a sound, seemingly quite near, made her start and look round. It was that of a soft yet merry laugh, low and musical and clear, though faint.
'Did you hear that, Fraulein?' said the little girl.
'What?' asked her governess.
'Somebody laughing, close to us—such a pretty laugh, like little silver bells.'
'Most likely it was the bells, the goats' little bells. I heard nothing else,' Fraulein replied.
Leonore shook her head.
'No,' she said,' it was different from that, quite different. And the goats are some way off now; listen, you can only just hear them. And the laughing was quite near.'
But Fraulein only smiled.
'There could not have been any one quite near without my hearing it too,' she replied, 'even if——' but here she stopped. She had said enough, however, to rouse her pupil's curiosity.