houses, and he
wondered whether there were men who availed themselves of these
possibilities. His fancy was so much excited by this train of thought,
that he ran back, crept into the partition, and found out that the wall
at the back of it was also of wood. As this was the wall dividing the
neighboring house from the one in which he was, he considered it a
pleasant discovery, and was just going to see whether some chink in the
main wall might not afford a further prospect, when he was disturbed by
a hollow murmur, which showed him that he was not alone. So he settled
himself upon a bag of straw opposite his companion, who was too sleepy
to talk much. By-and-by Pinkus came in, placed a jug of water on the
table, and locked the door outside. Itzig ate in the dark the dry bread
he had in his pocket, and at length fell asleep to the snoring of his
companion.

At the same hour his fellow-traveler wrapped himself round in his
comfortable bed, looked about him more asleep than awake, and fancied
that he saw the stucco cat rise on his feet, stretch out his paws, and
proceed to wash his face. Before he had time to marvel at this, he fell
asleep. Both the youths had their dreams. Anton's was of sitting on a
gigantic bale, and flying on it through the air, while a certain lovely
young lady stretched her arms out toward him; and Itzig's was of having
become a baron, and being teased into flinging an alms to old Ehrenthal.

The following morning each set to work. Anton sat at the desk and copied
letters, while Itzig, having brushed the collective boots and shoes of
the Ehrenthal family, stationed himself as a spy at the door of the
principal hotel, to watch a certain gentleman who was discontented with
his master, and suspected of applying to other moneyed men.

The first idle hour he had, Anton drew from memory the castle, the
balcony, and the turrets, on the best paper the town could afford; the
next, he put the drawing in a gilt frame, and hung it over his sofa.

CHAPTER V.

Just at first Anton found some difficulty in adapting himself to the new
world in which he was placed.

The business was one of a kind becoming rare nowadays, when rail-roads
and telegraphs unite remotest districts, and every merchant sends from
the heart of the country to bid his agents purchase goods almost before
they reach the shore. Yet there was a something about this old-fashioned
house of a dignified, almost a princely character; and wh