was
impatient of contradiction, and fought for his opinions against the
merchant himself with a stiff-neckedness that often horrified Anton. One
of his peculiarities was that of abhorring a vacuum as much as nature
herself. Wherever there was an empty corner, a closet, a cellar, a
recess to be discovered, there Pix would intrude with tuns, ladders,
ropes, and all imaginable commodities; and wherever he and his giant
band of porters had once got a footing, no earthly power could dislodge
them--not even the principal himself.

"Where is Wohlfart?" called Mr. Schroeter from the door of his office.

"Up stairs," calmly replied Pix.

"What is he doing there?" was the amazed inquiry.

At that moment loud voices were heard, and Anton came thundering down
the steps, followed by a servant, and both laden with cigar-boxes, while
behind them appeared the female relative in much excitement.

"They will not tolerate us up stairs," said Anton, hurriedly, to Pix.

"Now they have actually come to the laundry," said the lady, just as
hurriedly, to the principal.

"The cigars can not stand down here," declared Pix to both.

"And I will not have cigars in the laundry," cried the distant cousin.
"I declare there is not a place in the house safe from Mr. Pix. He has
filled the maid-servants' rooms with cigars, and they complain that the
smell is intolerable."

"It is dry up there," explained Mr. Pix to the merchant.

"Could you not, perhaps, place them elsewhere?" inquired the latter,
respectfully.

"Impossible!" was the decided reply.

"Do you really require the whole laundry, my dear cousin?" said the
principal, turning to the lady.

"The half of it were ample," interpolated Pix.

"I hope, Pix, you will content yourself with a corner," said the head of
the firm, by way of decision. "Tell the carpenter to run up a partition
at once."

"If Mr. Pix once gets admittance, he will take the whole of our
laundry," expostulated the too experienced cousin.

"It is the last concession we will make," was the reply.

Mr. Pix laughed silently--or grinned rebelliously, as the lady phrased
it; and, as soon as the authorities were out of sight, sent Anton up
again with the cigar-boxes.

But what chiefly constituted the importance of Pix in the eyes of the
community were the Herculean porters under his command. When these men
rolled mighty casks about, and lifted hundred weights like pounds, they
seemed to the new apprentice like th