me
without further ado for a beggar.

I got cool and collected at once. I raised my hat, made a respectful
bow, and, as if I had not caught her words, said, with the utmost
politeness:

"I hope you will excuse me, madam, for ringing so hard, the bell was
new to me. Is it not here that an invalid gentleman lives who has
advertised for a man to wheel him about in a chair?"

She stood awhile and digested this mendacious invention and seemed to
be irresolute in her summing up of my person.

"No!" she said at length; "no, there is no invalid gentleman living
here."

"Not really? An elderly gentleman--two hours a day--sixpence an hour?"

"No!"

"Ah! in that case, I again ask pardon," said I. "It is perhaps on the
first floor. I only wanted, in any case, to recommend a man I know, in
whom I am interested; my name is Wedel-Jarlsberg," [Footnote: The last
family bearing title of nobility in Norway.] and I bowed again and drew
back. The young lady blushed crimson, and in her embarrassment could
not stir from the spot, but stood and stared after me as I descended
the stairs.

My calm had returned to me, and my head was clear. The lady's saying
that she had nothing for me today had acted upon me like an icy shower.
So it had gone so far with me that any one might point at me, and say
to himself, "There goes a beggar--one of those people who get their
food handed out to them at folk's back-doors!"

I halted outside an eating-house in Moeller Street, and sniffed the
fresh smell of meat roasting inside; my hand was already upon the
door-handle, and I was on the point of entering without any fixed
purpose, when I bethought myself in time, and left the spot. On
reaching the market, and seeking for a place to rest for a little, I
found all the benches occupied, and I sought in vain all round outside
the church for a quiet seat, where I could sit down.

Naturally, I told myself, gloomily--naturally, naturally; and I
commenced to walk again. I took a turn round the fountain at the corner
of the bazaar, and swallowed a mouthful of water. On again, dragging
one foot after the other; stopped for a long time before each shop
window; halted, and watched every vehicle that drove by. I felt a
scorching heat in my head, and something pulsated strangely in my
temples. The water I had drunk disagreed with me fearfully, and I
retched, stopping here and there to escape being noticed in the open
street. In this manner I came up to Our