on an
idler derives from gaping.

The young man finally began to move; he walked rather stiffly across the
square and entered the florist's shop. A few minutes later the florist,
a man past middle age, with the typical toper's nose, threw open his
door and removed his cap, actions which in addition to his fawning bow
were unmistakable proof to the merchants on either side of him that it
was no ordinary sale he had just made. The young man went his way,
ambling along in shiftless indifference to where he was or the time of
day.

The next morning the florist's errand boy came to Eleanore, and told her
that his chief had something very important to say to her, and that she
should come at once. Eleanore followed the call without delay. As she
entered the shop, the florist greeted her with unusual politeness, and
told her that a man who took a special fancy to the kind of flowers she
had shown him the day before had been there and placed an order for two
such bouquets, or even three, a week at twenty marks each. He advised
her to exercise all diligence in making the flowers and said that when
such a rain of good fortune descended upon one it was wise to let other
things take care of themselves. The only condition the florist imposed
on her was absolute silence. The customer did not wish his name to be
known, nor did he wish to be seen. He remarked casually that there was
manifestly some whim or crotchet back of the man's action, such as is so
frequently the case with aristocratic people.

Who was happier than Eleanore! She never bothered herself for a minute
about the illogical and legendary element in the offer of a man who only
a day before had appeared so shrewd and cautious. She drank in every
word of the florist's detailed statement, and merely believed that in
this city, among its inhabitants, there was an eccentric fellow who was
willing to pay such a princely price for her flowers simply because he
liked flowers and was pleased with the way she put them up. Though she
had not been spoiled by fortune, the transformation that had suddenly
taken place in her circumstances awakened in her not the slightest
suspicion or surprise. She was too happy to be distrustful, too grateful
to become inquisitive. Her thoughts were on Daniel, who, she felt, was
saved. The whole way home she smiled to herself as if lost in dreams.

Evening after evening she sat with the flowers she had gathered in the
forenoon from the forests, the