aced Traugott, and
promised to be his faithful master and instructor. Traugott went to him
every day, and made great progress. His office work was now altogether
repugnant to him; he got so careless of it and inattentive to it that
Herr Elias Roos made loud complaints, and at last was glad when
Traugott, under the pretext of a lingering illness, gave up going to
the office at all: for which reason, also, the marriage was put off for
an indefinite time, to Christina's no small vexation.

"'That Mr. Traugott of yours,' said a business friend to Roos, 'looks
as if he had got something or other on his mind; perhaps some old love
debit which he would like to square up before he marries; he's so
terribly white, and wild-looking.'

"'Ay, ay,' said Elias; 'and why not, if he likes? I wonder,' he
continued after a little, 'if that sly little baggage of a Christina of
mine has been up to any tricks? That book-keeper's a spoony sort of
fellow; he's always kissing her hand, and squeezing it. Traugott's over
head and ears in love with her. Is it a bit of jealousy, I wonder? Gad!
I must watch how the cat jumps a little.'

"But though he watched as carefully as he could, he did _not_ see how
she jumped; and he said to the business friend aforesaid:

"'He's a precious rum customer, Master Traugott, I can tell you; but I
see nothing for it but to let him "gang his gate" as he likes best. If
he hadn't between seven and eight thousand pounds in my house, I should
soon let him see what I'd be after. Damme! he never does a stroke of
work in the office.'

"Traugott would now have been leading a life of the brightest sunshine
in the study of his art, had his heart not been consumed by the fervour
of his love for the beautiful Felizitas, whom he often saw in wondrous
dreams. Her portrait had disappeared; the old man had taken it away,
and Traugott did not dare to ask about it for fear of annoying him. For
the rest, Berklinger had got more and more confidence in Traugott as
time went on, and he now allowed him to better his narrow housekeeping
in many ways, instead of paying for his lessons in money. Traugott
learned from young Berklinger that the old man had lost very
considerably by the sale of a small collection of pictures, and that
the paper which Traugott had negotiated for him was all that had been
left of that sum, and was in fact all the money they had remaining. But
it was extremely seldom that he was able to have any talk with t