rest until I had completed my
article.

But the old cripple was still making the same sprawling movements ahead
of me up the street. The sight of this infirm creature constantly in
front of me, commenced to irritate me--his journey seemed endless;
perhaps he had made up his mind to go to exactly the same place as I
had, and I must needs have him before my eyes the whole way. In my
irritation it seemed to me that he slackened his pace a little at every
cross street, as if waiting to see which direction I intended to take,
upon which he would again swing his bundle in the air and peg away with
all his might to keep ahead of me. I follow and watch this tiresome
creature and get more and more exasperated with him, I am conscious
that he has, little by little, destroyed my happy mood and dragged the
pure, beautiful morning down to the level of his own ugliness. He looks
like a great sprawling reptile striving with might and main to win a
place in the world and reserve the footpath for himself. When we
reached the top of the hill I determined to put up with it no longer. I
turned to a shop window and stopped in order to give him an opportunity
of getting ahead, but when, after a lapse of some minutes, I again
walked on there was the man still in front of me--he too had stood
stock still,--without stopping to reflect I made three or four furious
onward strides, caught him up, and slapped him on the shoulder.

He stopped directly, and we both stared at one another fixedly. "A
halfpenny for milk!" he whined, twisting his head askew.

So that was how the wind blew. I felt in my pockets and said: "For
milk, eh? Hum-m--money's scarce these times, and I don't really know
how much you are in need of it."

"I haven't eaten a morsel since yesterday in Drammen; I haven't got a
farthing, nor have I got any work yet!"

"Are you an artisan?"

"Yes; a binder."

"A what?"

"A shoe-binder; for that matter, I can make shoes too."

"Ah, that alters the case," said I, "you wait here for some, minutes
and I shall go and get a little money for you; just a few pence."

I hurried as fast as I could down Pyle Street, where I knew of a
pawnbroker on a second-floor (one, besides, to whom I had never been
before). When I got inside the hall I hastily took off my waistcoat,
rolled it up, and put it under my arm; after which I went upstairs and
knocked at the office door. I bowed on entering, and threw the
waistcoat on the counter.

"One-an