se words, fragments left in my dessicated brain. What would one
expect from such a small menagerie? On the whole, it did not interest
me in the least to see animals in cases. These animals know that one is
standing staring at them; they feel hundreds of inquisitive looks upon
them; are conscious of them. No; I would prefer to see animals that
didn't know one observed them; shy creatures that nestle in their lair,
and lie with sluggish green eyes, and lick their claws, and muse, eh?

Yes; I was certainly right in that.

It was only animals in all their peculiar fearfulness and peculiar
savagery that possessed a charm. The soundless, stealthy tread in the
total darkness of night; the hidden monsters of the woods; the shrieks
of a bird flying past; the wind, the smell of blood, the rumbling in
space; in short, the reigning spirit of the kingdom of savage creatures
hovering over savagery ... the unconscious poetry!... But I was afraid
this bored her. The consciousness of my great poverty seized me anew,
and crushed me. If I had only been in any way well-enough dressed to
have given her the pleasure of this little tour in the Tivoli! I could
not make out this creature, who could find pleasure in letting herself
be accompanied up the whole of Carl Johann Street by a half-naked
beggar. What, in the name of God, was she thinking of? And why was I
walking there, giving myself airs, and smiling idiotically at nothing?
Had I any reasonable cause, either, for letting myself be worried into
a long walk by this dainty, silken-clad bird? Mayhap it did not cost me
an effort? Did I not feel the ice of death go right into my heart at
even the gentlest puff of wind that blew against us? Was not madness
running riot in my brain, just for lack of food for many months at a
stretch? Yet she hindered me from going home to get even a little milk
into my parched mouth; a spoonful of sweet milk, that I might perhaps
be able to keep down. Why didn't she turn her back on me, and let me go
to the deuce?...

I became distracted; my despair reduced me to the last extremity. I
said:

"Considering all things, you ought not to walk with me. I disgrace you
right under every one's eyes, if only with my clothes. Yes, it is
positively true; I mean it."

She starts, looks up quickly at me, and is silent; then she exclaims
suddenly:

"Indeed, though!" More she doesn't say.

"What do you mean by that?" I queried.

"Ugh, no; you make me feel ashamed...