y wore none. In the belt were stuck the eating
knife and the spoon; and, moreover, a large knife as a weapon of
defence, for such was often needed in these days.

Thus was equipped, on grand occasions, old Anthon, one of the oldest
bachelors of the "small houses;" only he did not wear the high-crowned
hat, but a fur cap, and under that a knitted cap, a veritable
nightcap, to which he had so accustomed himself that it was never off
his head: he actually possessed two of the same description. He would
have made an excellent subject for a painter; he was so skinny, so
wrinkled about the mouth and the eyes; had long fingers, with such
large joints; and his grey eyebrows were so thick. A bunch of grey
hair from one of these hung over his left eye: it certainly was not
pretty, but it made him very remarkable. It was known that he came
from Bremen, at least that his master lived there; but he himself was
from Thueringen, from the town of Eisenach, close to Wartburg. Old
Anthon spoke little of his native place, but he thought of it the
more.

The old lodgers in the street did not associate much with each other.
Each remained in his own booth, which, was locked early in the
evening, and then looked very dismal; for only a glimmering light
could be seen through the horn panes of the window in the roof,
beneath which sat, most frequently on his bed, the old man with his
German psalm-book, and chanted the evening hymn, or else he went out
and strolled about at night by way of amusement; but amusement it
could hardly be called. To be a stranger in a foreign country is a
very sad situation. No notice is taken of him unless he stands in
anyone's way.

Often when it was a pitch-dark night, with pouring rain, all around
looked woefully gloomy and desolate. No lanterns were to be seen,
except the little one that hung at one end of the street, before the
image of the Virgin Mary that adorned the wall there. The water was
heard dashing and splashing against the wooden work near, out by
Slotsholm, on which the other end of the street opened. Such evenings
are always long and lonely if there be nothing to interest one. It is
not necessary every day to pack and unpack, to make up parcels, and to
polish scales; but one must have something to do, and accordingly old
Anthon industriously mended his clothes and cleaned his shoes. When at
length he retired to rest, it was his custom to keep on his nightcap.
At first he would draw it well down,