many.

Their funds had rapidly been exhausted; for he who has not learned to
husband his resources in the days of plenty will not be able to do so
in the days of dire need.

And so Borgert had been obliged to look about him for some
remunerative occupation. Hunger is a hard taskmaster, and hard as it
seemed to this man who had been reared and had lived till then
virtually in idleness, he had now to turn his hands to useful work;
but the employment he had been able to secure had not lasted long.
Without a word of warning, he had been dismissed as incapable of the
work demanded, and he was just now returning from a last vain effort
to obtain another place. They mounted the steep stairs and entered
their little room, furnished without regard to even moderate ideas of
comfort, and filled with an air which in the days gone by Borgert had
never been able to endure.

He threw himself on the narrow sofa with a cry of despair and covered
his face with his hands, while Frau Leimann cowered before the grate
on a small stool.

With eyes hollow from much weeping and many sleepless nights, she
gazed into the dying fire. This was all the warmth which they could
expect that night, for their means were entirely exhausted.

Both of them kept silence for a while, and then Borgert spoke. The
woman trembled at the sound of his voice, as if she were awaking from
a fearful dream.

"And what is to become of us now?" said he, very low.

She did not answer him, but continued to gaze into the faintly glowing
coals, and a tear slowly coursed down her pale, emaciated face.

"To-morrow we shall have to leave this house, for we are unable to
pay, and then no other refuge is left us but the streets."

"You must work, George," replied the woman in a tear-choked voice,
although she tried to infuse some energy into her tones.

"Have I not tried?" replied he, with a shrug. "But haven't they
dismissed me every time without warning? And besides, there is no use
for my trying again. How can I work? I've never learned it."

"But something must be done; we must find a way out of this," Frau
Leimann cried out, and her voice sounded shrill. "If you intend to
leave me to misery, you ought not to have enticed me away from home."

"Enticed?" Borgert mimicked her. "Who has enticed you? Was it not you
who implored me to let you come with me because you were unable to
endure any longer the life you were leading with your noble husband?"

"If I did so,