a premonition
that if the sailmaker ever got fairly started on the subject of his
wife, there would be no end to it.

"Go to sleep, then, stupid!" cried Heller; the other did not allow
himself to be drawn, but went on deliberately taking long breaths,
until he really fell asleep.

Next morning the sailmaker, who at sixty did not need so much sleep,
was the first to wake. He lay for half an hour staring at the white
ceiling. Then, although he had seemed so stiff in his movements the day
before, he got out of bed as lightly and gently as a morning breeze,
stole over in his bare feet to Huerlin's bed without making a sound, and
began to explore the latter's clothes. He searched carefully through
them, but found nothing except the stump of a pencil in the waistcoat
pocket, which he took out and appropriated. A hole which he discovered
in the left stocking of his companion he enlarged with the help of his
two thumbs until it was of considerable size. Then he crept quietly
back to his warm bed and did not move again until Huerlin was awake and
up and had thrown a few drops of water in his face. Then he sprang up
nimbly and got into his trousers. He did not, however, hasten to finish
his toilette, and when the ex-manufacturer advised him to hurry, he
said "Oh, you go on down--I'll be after you in a minute." Huerlin did
so, and Heller heaved a sigh of relief. He seized the washbasin and
emptied the clean water out of the window--for he had a horror of
washing. When he had avoided this distasteful process, he was soon
ready to hasten down and get his coffee.

The making of the beds, tidying up the room, and polishing of shoes was
attended to after breakfast, of course without undue haste and with
plenty of pauses for conversation. The manufacturer found it all much
more sociable and pleasant in company than alone; he began to have very
friendly feelings toward his housemate, and to congratulate himself on
the prospect of a lively and cheerful existence. Even the inevitable
work seemed less terrifying than usual, and at the manager's summons he
went down to the yard with Heller, not indeed swiftly but with an
almost smiling countenance.

In spite of passionate outbursts on the part of the weaver and his
constant endeavors to conquer the reluctance of his charge, in the last
few weeks the wood-pile had shown very little alteration. It seemed
almost as high and wide as ever--as though it had the blessed
permanence of the widow