w when they had left the place, felt their loss sadly. She said
nothing to any one, but a worm gnawed at her heart, in the thought that
she was the only poor one of the family. She could do nothing for her
parents, nor assist in supporting them; indeed--who knows?--perhaps she
must one day go begging to her own sisters, and entreat of them to give
the cast off clothes of their children to hers.

Annele went through the house silently, and she, who was once so
talkative, scarcely ever spoke. She answered at once when she was asked
any question, but not a word more. She scarcely ever left the house,
and her former restlessness seemed to have been transferred to Lenz. He
despaired of ever again making anything of his work; and, therefore,
the tools he handled, and the chair on which he sat, seemed burning.

He had besides constantly small creditors to pacify, and was obliged to
be civil to every one. He who once upon a time said, simply, "So and so
is the case," and was believed, must now give the most strong and
sacred assurances, that he would eventually pay the claimants. The
greater was his anxiety, therefore, to redeem his pledged word, and he
despaired of saving his honour, more than was at all necessary. His
thoughts were constantly occupied by this and that person, waiting
anxiously for their money, and his gloom and uneasiness daily
increased. Annele saw well enough that he tormented himself needlessly,
and she was often on the point of dispatching these unfortunate duns,
with sharp words, and saying to Lenz that he should not be so humble to
them, for the more meek people are in this world, the more are they
trampled on. But she kept this to herself, for his anxiety would assist
in accomplishing the project she had never given up. An inn must be
bought, and then the world would have a very different aspect.

In his solicitude and despair, Lenz felt all the desolation of his
heart, and often he stole a glance at Annele, and though he did not say
it, he thought: "You are right, you told me once I was good for
nothing--it is true now, for I am no longer good for anything; care
gnaws at my heart, and our discord crushes me to the earth. I am like a
candle lighted at both ends. Oh! if this were only soon at an end for
ever!"

Watches and clocks were brought to him to be repaired, and in this way
he cleared off some of his smaller debts; but it was sad to work now
only to efface the past, when all his labour was req