sition of a great and commanding position in the
world. He would have been in his element as an Indian chief, as
a privy councillor, or even as a master-huntsman; but the life of a
factory-owner seemed to him both more comfortable and more independent.
A cigar in the corner of his mouth and a grave and thoughtful smile
upon his face, standing at the window or sitting at his desk to issue
all sorts of orders, to sign contracts, to listen to suggestions and
requests, to combine the wrinkled brow of the very busy man with
an easy, comfortable manner, to be now unapproachably strict and now
good-naturedly condescending, and at all times to feel that he was a
leader of men and that much depended on him--this was his gift, which
unfortunately had come only too late in life to full exercise. But
now he had his desire to the full; he could do as he pleased, set
people up or put them down, heave delightful sighs over the burden of
wealth, and feel that he was envied by many. All this he enjoyed with a
connoisseur's pleasure and with entire absorption; he wallowed in
happiness, and felt that fate had at last given him the place that
belonged to him.

In the meantime, the rival at whose expense he had grown great, made a
new discovery, the introduction of which showed a number of the earlier
products to be useless and turned out others much more cheaply. Since
Huerlin, for all his self-confidence, was not a genius and understood
only the externals of his trade, he descended at first slowly and then
with increasing rapidity from his height of success, and finally
reached a point where he was unable to conceal from himself that he was
beaten. In desperation, he tried some daring financial expedients,
through which he involved himself and a number of creditors with him in
a complete and unsavory bankruptcy. He fled, but was caught and brought
back, tried, and sent to jail; and when after several years he appeared
once more in the town it was as a discredited and broken man
who could not hope to make a fresh start.

For a while he found humble occupations; but in the sultry days when
the storm was gathering he had developed into a secret drinker--and
what had then been concealed and little regarded became now a public
scandal. Dismissed from a small clerk's place for untrustworthiness, he
became an insurance agent, and in this capacity took to visiting all
the taverns of the neighborhood. He lost this employment too, and, when
an at