Kaspar Hauser. 
87 
np FO 
Thether 4. 
then he 
“EN fg 1 
if ang he 
100 ff 
0 Ky 
anh 
"0, chip 
De mage, 
2 0, if 
of madi 
narks pa 
008 and 
dled: o 
& and th 
while they were given to understand that the youth’s importance 
~onsisted entirely in being Lord Stanhope’s protégé, and not in any 
romantic theories concerning his possible origin. Thus, prejudiced 
against the foundling by his sole protector, and authorised to treat 
him according to their own judgment, Meyer and Hickel began 
with zeal their course of petty persecution, each in his own way : 
Meyer as a pedantic pedagogue, impatient of intellectual de- 
ficiency and unmerciful towards moral weakness; Hickel as an 
astute policeman, ever on the alert to expose imposture and de- 
tect crime. It is out of their own mouths that they are to be 
~ondemned ; for Kaspar, like the child he was, forgot each quarrel 
as soon as it was over, and never complained to outside persons, 
excepting on one occasion when he defended himself before 
Feuerbach, in reply to Hickel’s accusations. 
Meyer's ©“ Report” and Hickel’s * Letters ” are the sources from 
whence are derived a knowledge of how the boy fared at the 
nands of those two untrustworthy guardians. 
HIVES Thies 
ar Hause: 
7 develop 
know hn 
ote ml 
wh know 
sonality 
: friends 
ns ind 
mali 
n allel 
afore. a1 
Hild 
nat Mgt 
ner 0 
vave bel 
old I 
of bi; 
February 19, 1832, Hickel went alone to Hungary, sent thither, 
at the expense of Stanhope, to examine into the story concerning 
Priest Miiller and Governess Dalbonne, and to visit the castie 
and towns whose names had appeared to waken a vague memory 
in Kaspar’s mind. The journey was, of course, fruitless. 
On Hickel’s return Kaspar met him with the question : 
“ Have you found my parents?” and received for reply a con- 
lemptuous glance, with the words : 
“You probably know best whether 1 have found your parents 
or not!” 
All this was lost upon Kaspar, who, although thinking much 
and deeply upon the subject, was unable to sift, and compare, and 
reason upon the various theories which occupied so many brilliant 
and experienced minds, while he was entirely innocent of the de- 
ception implied by Hickel’s answer. He often told Professor 
Daumer in tle Nuremberg days that if he could only find his 
father it would be all the same to him whether he found him in a 
palace or in a hovel: he felt alone, and a stranger in the world,