from it, but ever increases more and more."

If, then, the Commissionsrath was terrified that Manasseh, by his
curse, had brought poverty into his house, on the other hand, he stood
in the utmost dread of Leonhard, who, to say nothing of the
extraordinary magical powers at his command, had a certain something
about him which created a decided sense of awe. The Commissionsrath
could not but feel that there was nothing (with respect to the two of
them) which one could "do;" and thus the full brunt of his anger was
discharged upon Edmund Lehsen, upon whom he laid all the blame of all
the "unpleasantness" which had come about. Over and above all this,
Albertine came to the front, and declared, of her own motion, having
evidently completely made up her mind on the subject--declared, we say,
with the utmost distinctness, that she loved Edmund more than words
could express, and would never marry either that insufferable and
unendurable old pedant of a Tussmann, or that equally not-to-be-heard-of
beast of a Baron Benjamin. So that the Commissionsrath got into the
most tremendous rage imaginable, and wished Edmund at (ahem!) Hong
Kong, or Jericho, or, to speak idiomatically, "where the pepper grows."
But inasmuch as he could not carry this wish into effect, as the late
French Government did (which actually _did_ send objectionable persons
to the place "where the pepper grows"), he had to be content with
writing Edmund a nice little note, into which he poured all the gall
and venom which was in him at the time (and that was not a little), and
which ended by telling him that if ever he crossed his, the
Commissionsrath's, threshold again, he had better--look out for
squalls.

Of course we all know the state of inconsolable despair in which
Leonhard found Edmund, when he went to see him, at the fall of the
twilight, according to his wont.

"What have _I_ to thank you for?" Edmund cried, indignantly. "Of what
service have your protection and all your efforts been to _me_? Your
attempts to send this cursed rival of mine out of my way--what has been
the result of them? Those damnable conjuring tricks of yours--all
that _they_ have done has been to send everybody into a state of
higgledy-piggledy, where nobody knows what to think of anything! Even
that darling girl of mine is in the same boat with all the rest of them.
It's just this stupid, nonsensical bosh of yours--that, and nothing
else,--which is blocking up _my_ way, and so I t