FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   757   758   759   760   761   762   763   764   765   766   767   768   769   770   771   772   773   774   775   776   777   778   779   780   781  
782   783   784   785   786   787   788   789   790   791   792   793   794   795   796   797   798   799   800   801   802   803   804   805   806   >>   >|  
g a shot.] You sent for doctors--a whole posse of them--and offered three ducats to any one who would write a prescription for your dog. We were afraid the gentlemen would stand too much upon honor and refuse, and had already made up our minds to use force. But this was quite unnecessary; the doctors got to fisticuffs for the three ducats, and their competition brought down the price to three groats; in the course of an hour a dozen prescriptions were written, of which, of course, the poor beast very soon died. CHARLES VON M. The vile rascals. SPIEGEL. The funeral procession was arranged with all due pomp; odes for the dog were indited by the gross; and at night we all turned out, near a thousand of us, a lantern in one hand and our rapier in the other, and so proceeded through the town, the bells chiming and ringing, till the dog was entombed. Then came a, feed which lasted till broad daylight, when you sent your acknowledgments to the college dons for their kind sympathy, and ordered the meat to be sold at half-price. _Mort de ma vie_, if we had not as great a respect for you as a garrison for the conqueror of a fortress. CHARLES VON M. And are you not ashamed to boast of these things? Have you not shame enough in you to blush even at the recollection of such pranks? SPIEGEL. Come, come! You are no longer the same Moor. Do you remember how, a thousand times, bottle in hand, you made game of the miserly old governor, bidding him by all means rake and scrape together as much as he could, for that you would swill it all down your throat? Don't you remember, eh?--don't you remember?' O you good-for-nothing, miserable braggart! that was speaking like a man, and a gentleman, but-- CHARLES VON M. A curse on you for reminding me of it! A curse on myself for what I said! But it was done in the fumes of wine, and my heart knew not what my tongue uttered. SPIEGEL. (shakes his head). No, no! that cannot be! Impossible, brother! You are not in earnest! Tell me! most sweet brother, is it not poverty which has brought you to this mood? Come! let me tell you a little story of my youthful days. There was a ditch close to my house, eight feet wide at the least, which we boys were trying to leap over for a wager. But it was no go. Splash! there you lay sprawling, amidst hisses and roars of laughter, and a relentless shower of snowballs. By the side of my house a hunter's dog was lying chained, a savage beast, which would
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   757   758   759   760   761   762   763   764   765   766   767   768   769   770   771   772   773   774   775   776   777   778   779   780   781  
782   783   784   785   786   787   788   789   790   791   792   793   794   795   796   797   798   799   800   801   802   803   804   805   806   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
SPIEGEL
 

CHARLES

 
remember
 

thousand

 

brought

 

brother

 

ducats

 
doctors
 
reminding
 
governor

bidding
 

bottle

 

miserly

 

scrape

 

throat

 

speaking

 

miserable

 

braggart

 
gentleman
 

poverty


Splash
 

sprawling

 

amidst

 
hisses
 
hunter
 

chained

 

savage

 

laughter

 

relentless

 
shower

snowballs

 

Impossible

 

earnest

 

tongue

 

uttered

 

shakes

 
youthful
 

written

 

prescriptions

 

groats


competition

 

rascals

 
funeral
 
indited
 

turned

 
procession
 

arranged

 

fisticuffs

 

prescription

 

afraid