particular piece of generosity which resulted in the acquisition of a
red-coated puppet in exchange for fifty marks fills her heart with anger
and her plump brown fingers with an itching desire to scratch and tear
something or somebody as a means of satisfying her vengeance. For the poor
fellow-countryman was one of the Count's friends, and Akulina Fischelowitz
abhors the Count and loathes him, and the Wiener Gigerl was the beginning
of the end.

While Christian is watching his doll, and Akulina is seated behind the
counter, her hands folded upon her lap, and her eyes darting unquiet
glances at her husband, the Count is busily occupied in making cigarettes
in the dingy back shop among a group of persons, both young and old, all
similarly occupied. It is not to be expected that the workroom should be
cleaner or more tastefully decorated than the counting-house, and in such
a business as the manufacture of cigarettes by hand litter of all sorts
accumulates rapidly. The "Famous Cigarette Manufactory of Christian
Fischelowitz from South Russia" is about as dingy, as unhealthy, as
untidy, as dusty a place as can be found within the limits of tidy,
well-to-do Munich. The room is lighted by a window and a half-glazed door,
both opening upon a dark court. The walls, originally whitewashed, are of
a deep rich brown, attributable partly to the constant fumes and
exhalations of tobacco, partly to the fine brown dust of the dried refuse
cuttings, and partly to the admirable smoke-giving qualities of the
rickety iron stove which stands in one corner, and in which a fire is
daily attempted during more than half the year. There are many shelves
upon the walls too, and the white wood of these has also received into
itself the warm, deep colour. Upon two of these shelves there are
accumulations of useless articles, a cracked glass vase, once the pride of
the show window, when it was filled to overflowing with fine cut leaf, a
broken-down samovar which has seen tea-service in many cities, from Kiew