XI


The bell tinkled at the outer door. A young peasant lad in a fur
cap and a red waistcoat came into the shop from the street. Not one
customer had looked into it since early morning ... 'You see how much
business we do!' Frau Lenore observed to Sanin at lunch-time with a
sigh. She was still asleep; Gemma was afraid to take her arm from the
pillow, and whispered to Sanin: 'You go, and mind the shop for me!'
Sanin went on tiptoe into the shop at once. The boy wanted a quarter
of a pound of peppermints. 'How much must I take?' Sanin whispered
from the door to Gemma. 'Six kreutzers!' she answered in the same
whisper. Sanin weighed out a quarter of a pound, found some paper,
twisted it into a cone, tipped the peppermints into it, spilt them,
tipped them in again, spilt them again, at last handed them to the
boy, and took the money.... The boy gazed at him in amazement,
twisting his cap in his hands on his stomach, and in the next room,
Gemma was stifling with suppressed laughter. Before the first customer
had walked out, a second appeared, then a third.... 'I bring luck,
it's clear!' thought Sanin. The second customer wanted a glass of
orangeade, the third, half-a-pound of sweets. Sanin satisfied their
needs, zealously clattering the spoons, changing the saucers, and
eagerly plunging his fingers into drawers and jars. On reckoning up,
it appeared that he had charged too little for the orangeade, and
taken two kreutzers too much for the sweets. Gemma did not cease
laughing softly, and Sanin too was aware of an extraordinary lightness
of heart, a peculiarly happy state of mind. He felt as if he had