ould be published. Was he alone in
his compartment? An adored image kept him company; he spoke to it, it
replied to him. Blended with a rather uncommon frigidity of soul,
Samuel Brohl had an imagination that readily took fire, and, when his
imagination was kindled, he felt within him something warm, which he
took for a heart, and sincerely persuaded himself that he had such an
organ. At this moment he saw Antoinette as he had left her the evening
previous, her face animated, her cheeks flushed, her countenance full of
reproach, her eyes tearful. She never had appeared to him so charming.
He believed himself so madly in love that he was inclined to mock a
little at himself. He teased in anticipation the joys that were in
reserve for him; he revelled in thought of the day and the hour when
this superb creature would be his, when he could view her as his
own undisputed possession, and devour page after page, chapter after
chapter, of this elegantly printed, richly bound book.

However, he was not the man to wholly absorb himself in such a reverie.
His thoughts travelled farther; in idea he embraced his entire future,
which he fashioned out at pleasure. He took leave of his sorrowful past
as a blind man who by some miracle recovers his sight, parts from his
dog and his staff--troublesome witnesses of evil days. He had done with
petty employments, with ungrateful toil, with humiliating servitude,
with anxiety about the morrow, with the necessity for counting every
sou, with meagre repasts, with sordid expedients, with sorrow, distress,
and usuries; to all these he said farewell. Henceforth he would pick up
silver and gold by the shovelful; he would have a share in abundance of
festivals--the joy of doing nothing--the pleasure of commanding--all the
sweetness and all the calm satisfaction of delightful egotism--reposing
in a bed of eider-down--fed upon delicate birds--owning two or three
houses, a carriage, horses, and a box at the opera. What a future!
At intervals Samuel Brohl passed his tongue over his lips; they were
parched with thirst.

Alnaschar the Lazy received one hundred drachms of silver as his entire
patrimony, and he promised himself that he would one day marry the
daughter of the grand-vizier. He meant to clothe himself like a prince,
to mount upon a horse with a saddle of fine gold and housings of gold,
richly embroidered with diamonds and pearls. He proposed to see that
his wife formed good habits, to train