Page:Specimens of German Romance (Volume 2).djvu/61

 long ago warned you not to place your reliance upon tricks which you cannot execute without the possession of the ? and on how ticklish a point rests that possession, notwithstanding all your care, you have just now experienced."

Pepusch farther gave the flea-tamer to understand, that he could not at all comprehend how his being forced to give up these tricks could so much disturb his life, as the invention of the microscope, and his general dexterity in the preparation of microscopic glasses, had long ago established him. But the flea-tamer, on the other hand, maintained, that very different things lay hid in these subtleties, and that he could not give them up without giving up his whole existence. Pepusch interrupted him by asking, "Where is Dörtje Elverdink?"

"Where is she?" screamed Leuwenhock, wringing his hands—"where is Dörtje Elverdink?—Gone!—gone into the wide world!—vanished!—But strike me dead at once, Pepusch, for I see your wrath growing: make short work of it with me!"