ssible to us until we shake off the world.'"

The discourse of the young scholar, passing through his belated period
of storm and stress, was listened to respectfully. His reference to
artificial manure produced a burst of merriment, and when he ended, his
audience applauded.

"Shaking off the world, that's something for Franck, Doctor von
Kammacher. Tell him, Franck, how you came to America," said Willy.

"Or about your tramping on foot to Chicago," said Lobkowitz.

"Or," said Ritter, "your adventure in Boston, when two policemen,
strangely mistaking your condition for a tremendous jag, took you on a
drive in the patrol wagon to the lock-up."

"It's very good they did," said Franck, smiling and tossing the lock from
his forehead. "I should certainly have caught a cold if they hadn't."

To Frederick's puzzlement, every one of Franck's utterances was greeted
by a shout of laughter.

"Franck is a genuine genius," whispered Willy to Frederick, while filling
a glass with Chianti, "and the greatest eccentric in the world. Franck,"
he cried, "didn't you come to America without a cent of money?"

"For what does one need money?" Franck rejoined, at great leisure, with a
naive smile.

"Didn't you come over as a stoker?"

"Ye-e-es," said Franck, "I was engaged as a stoker."

"But you didn't do any stoking?"

"No, I didn't have the muscle for it."

"But what did you do on the ship?" asked Lobkowitz.

"I? I sailed on the ocean."

"Of course. But you were engaged to work. You must have done something to
earn money."

"I played sixty-six with the first mate."

Finally Franck's story was extracted from him. It was by painting the
portrait of the head-steward that he had lived so handsomely on the
steamer and had landed on American soil with fifty dollars in his pocket,
though a day later not a cent of the fifty dollars was left.

"Money's a nuisance," said Franck.

III

Up to this point a wholesome-looking waitress, in white cap and apron,
had been serving. Now the Italian cook himself, Simone Brambilla, came
in to bring on the dessert and cheese and inquire whether the dinner had
been to the gentlemen's taste. The familiarity between masters and cook,
who spoke Italian together, testified to the best relations between them.
This little fragment of the artists' Italy in America enlivened them all,
bringing back memories of the days they had spent in Italy, the days that
signify the heyday of their yout