s in that state I really did not know what I said. Who ever
could have repeated this to your Excellency?"

"No one repeated it." said the Count, "so you need not entertain any
mistrust of your friends. One of my household overheard you; and his
ear having caught the sound of my name, he listened attentively, that
is all. But what does it signify? You did just as all young men--ay,
and the best of our young men, do--drank deep of the Rhenish. I like
you the better for it. And then, by all accounts, you had some cause
for excitement, for you believe you are to win the greatest prize that
Dantzic has ever proposed for one of her citizens."

The scene of the last night passed from Dumiger's memory when the
hope of fame and the prospect of success were mentioned. His whole
countenance changed, his eye brightened, and the nostril dilated.

"You heard that, also, your Excellency!" he said. "Well, then, I need
not scruple to tell you the truth. Yes, I have labored night and day,
and I hope to obtain the reward of all this self-sacrifice; and now I
draw near the goal my blood is excited--I am fevered by my hopes. Look
here, sir," and forgeting all his fears and etiquettes, he took the
Count by the arm and led him to a curtain which was drawn across a
corner of the room where the model-clock was placed. "Here is the
work; it approaches completion; is it not worthy of the prize?"

Even to the most unpracticed eye this model of a great work appeared
to be of admirable skill. So complicated was the machinery, that the
marvel seemed to be how it was possible so nicely to have arranged
its various parts, that they could find sufficient space for working.
Massive weights were regulated by springs of such fine texture, that
it was surprising how they could possibly have been made by a man's
rude hand. The movement was perfectly noiseless, so beautifully were
the balances arranged around the principal works of the clock itself:
the heavenly bodies were moving in harmony and regularity; the face
of the clock had not yet been affixed, so the whole of the interior
operations of the machinery were apparent. The Count gazed astonished
at the result of long perseverance and indomitable energy. Dumiger
stood beside him holding the massive curtain aside, and delighting in
the Count's amazement. At length he allowed it to fall, exclaiming,
with pardonable self-love, "Surely this must succeed!"

The Count resumed his seat, and, for some time,