anguish awaiting those who crossed his threshold. Now it was I who was
about to beg and pray like so many others.

"'Well, no, not _that_,' I said to myself; 'an honest man must keep his
self-respect wherever he goes. Success is not worth cringing for; let
us show him a front as decided as his own.'

"Daddy Gobseck had taken my room since I left the house, so as to have
no neighbor; he had made a little grated window too in his door since
then, and did not open until he had taken a look at me and saw who I
was.

"'Well,' said he, in his thin, flute notes, 'so your principal is
selling his practice?'

"'How did you know that?' said I; 'he has not spoken of it as yet
except to me.'

"The old man's lips were drawn in puckers, like a curtain, to either
corner of his mouth, as a soundless smile bore a hard glance company.

"'Nothing else would have brought you here,' he said drily, after a
pause, which I spent in confusion.

"'Listen to me, M. Gobseck,' I began, with such serenity as I could
assume before the old man, who gazed at me with steady eyes. There was
a clear light burning in them that disconcerted me.

"He made a gesture as if to bid me 'Go on.' 'I know that it is not
easy to work on your feelings, so I will not waste my eloquence on the