Chapter 5

When he was gone, and Yoletta had followed, leaving some of the others
still studying those wretched sovereigns, I sat down again and rested my
chin on my hand; for I was now thinking--deeply: thinking on the terms
of the agreement. "I daresay I have succeeded in making a precious ass
of myself," was the mental reflection that occurred to me--one I had not
infrequently made, and, what is more, been justified in making on former
occasions. Then, remembering that I had come to supper with an
extravagant appetite, it struck me that my host, quietly observant, had,
when proposing terms, taken into account the quantity of food necessary
for my sustenance. I regretted too late that I had not exercised more
restraint; but the hungry man does not and cannot consider consequences,
else a certain hairy gentleman who figures in ancient history had never
lent himself to that nefarious compact, which gave so great an advantage
to a younger but sleek and well-nourished brother. In spite of all this,
I felt a secret satisfaction in the thought of the clothes, and it was
also good to know that the nature of the work I had undertaken would not
lower my status in the house.

Occupied with these reflections, I had failed to observe that the
company had gradually been drifting away until but one person was left
with me--the young man who had talked with me before. On his invitation
I now rose, put by my money, and followed him. Returning by the hall we
went through a passage and entered a room of vast extent, which in its
form and great length and high arched roof was like the nave of a
cathedral. And yet how unlike in that something ethereal in its aspect,
as of a nave in a cloud cathedral, its far-stretching shining floors and
walls and columns, pure white and pearl-gray, faintly touched with