"You mustn't expect _too_ much," and we soon found ourselves walking
thither up the avenue. Thus we had often walked as children, and once--a
memorable once--besides.
There stood the little white house with its golden legend, as I had seen
it a thousand times when a boy--a hundred since.
How sweet and small it looked in the mellow sunshine! We mounted the
stone _perron_, and opened the door and entered. My heart beat
violently.
Everything was as it had always been, as far as I could see. Dr.
Seraskier sat in a chair by the window reading Schiller, and took no
notice of us. His hair moved in the gentle breeze. Overhead we heard the
rooms being swept and the beds made.
I followed her into a little lumber-room, where I did not remember to
have been before; it was full of odds and ends.
"Why have you brought me here?" I asked.