s associations, or, lastly, he may
have felt impelled to save it from Akulina's destroying wrath, so far as
it yet could be said to be saved.

As has been said, he had not dined on that day, and he would very probably
have forgotten to eat, even after being reminded of the meal by the
tobacconist, had he not passed, on his way homeward, the obscure
restaurant in which he and the other men who worked for Fischelowitz were
accustomed to get their food and drink. This fifth-rate eating-house
rejoiced in the attractive name of the "Green Wreath," a designation
painted in large dusty green Gothic letters upon the grey walls of the
dilapidated house in which it was situated. There are not to be found in
respectable Munich those dens of filth and drunkenness which belong to
greater cities whose vices are in proportion greater also. In Munich the
strength of fiery spirits is drowned in oceans of mild beer, a liquid of
which the head will stand more than the waistband and which, instead of
exciting to crime, predisposes the consumer to peaceful and lengthened
sleep. The worst that can be said of the poorer public-houses in Munich,
is that they are frequented by the poorer people, and that as the
customers bring less money than elsewhere, there is less drinking in
proportion, and a greater demand for large quantities of very filling food
at very low rates. As a general rule, such places are clean and decently
kept, and the sight of a drunken man in the public room would excite very
considerable astonishment, besides entailing upon the culprit a summary
expulsion into the street and a rather forcible injunction not to repeat
the offence.

The four windows of the establishment which opened upon the narrow street
were open, for the weather had become sultry even out of doors, and the
guests wanted fresh air. At one of these windows the Count saw the heads
of Dumnoff and Schmidt. With the instinct of the poor man, the Count felt
in his pocket to see whether he had any money, and was somewhat disturbed
to find but a solitary piece of silver, feebly supported on either side by
a couple of one-penny pieces. He had forgotten that he had refused to
accept his pay for the day's work, and it required an effort of memory to
account for the low state of his funds. But what he had with him was
sufficient for his wants, and settling his parcel under his arm he
ascended the three or four steps which gave access to the inn, and entered
the publi