ady. But from that time forward, the whole shop, from the cash box
down to the pinewood logs, formed their opinions from that of the
cask; and they all had such confidence in him, and treated him with so
much respect, that when the huckster read the criticisms on
theatricals and art of an evening, they fancied it must all come
from the cask.

But after what he had seen, the goblin could no longer sit and
listen quietly to the wisdom and understanding down stairs; so, as
soon as the evening light glimmered in the garret, he took courage,
for it seemed to him as if the rays of light were strong cables,
drawing him up, and obliging him to go and peep through the keyhole;
and, while there, a feeling of vastness came over him such as we
experience by the ever-moving sea, when the storm breaks forth; and it
brought tears into his eyes. He did not himself know why he wept,
yet a kind of pleasant feeling mingled with his tears. "How
wonderfully glorious it would be to sit with the student under such
a tree;" but that was out of the question, he must be content to
look through the keyhole, and be thankful for even that.

There he stood on the old landing, with the autumn wind blowing
down upon him through the trap-door. It was very cold; but the
little creature did not really feel it, till the light in the garret
went out, and the tones of music died away. Then how he shivered,
and crept down stairs again to his warm corner, where it felt
home-like and comfortable. And when Christmas came again, and
brought the dish of jam and the great lump of butter, he liked the
huckster best of all.

Soon after, in the middle of the night, the goblin was awoke by
a terrible noise and knocking against the window shutters and the
house doors, and by the sound of the watchman's horn; for a great fire
had broken out, and the whole street appeared full of flames. Was it
in their house, or a neighbor's? No one could tell, for terror had
seized upon all. The huckster's wife was so bewildered that she took
her gold ear-rings out of her ears and put them in her pocket, that
she might save something at least. The huckster ran to get his
business papers, and the servant resolved to save her blue silk
mantle, which she had managed to buy. Each wished to keep the best
things they had. The goblin had the same wish; for, with one spring,
he was up stairs and in the student's room, whom he found standing
by the open window, and looking quite calmly at t