cene of the visit, if it
had not been for the black and sulphur-yellow striped vest, which
Pierre Barthelemy, as I was later informed, regularly wore, and which,
in consequence, occupied a considerable portion of the picture hanging
above his head.

It goes without saying that we shared in the breakfast, and the
grandparents, well-bred people that they were, did not show so very
plainly that, on the whole, the visit, with its to-be-expected
business negotiations, was for them in reality a disturbance. True,
there was all day long not a sign of tenderness toward me, so that I
was heartily glad when we started back home in the evening. Not until
a great deal later was I able to see that the coolness with which I
was received was not meant for poor little me, but, as already
indicated, for my father. I merely had to suffer with him. To such an
extremely solid character as my grandfather the self-assured,
man-of-the-world tone of his son, who by a clever business stroke had
acquired a feeling of independence and comfortable circumstances, was
so disagreeable and oppressive, that my blond locks, on whose
impression my mother had counted with such certainty, failed utterly
to exert their charm.

I have already remarked that such excursions to Berlin occurred
frequently in those days, but still more frequent were journeys into
the provinces, because it was incumbent upon my father to look about
for a new apothecary's shop to buy. If he had had his way about it he
doubtless would never have changed this state of affairs and would
have declared the interim permanent. For, whereas his passion for
gaming was in reality forced upon him by his need to kill time, he had
by nature a genuine passion for his horse and carriage, and to drive
around in the world the whole of life in search of an apothecary's
shop, without being able to find one, would have been, I presume, just
the ideal occupation for him. But he saw that it was out of the
question; a few years of travel would have consumed his means. So he
only took great care to guard against too hasty purchases, and that
answered the same purpose. The more critically he proceeded the longer
he could continue his journeys and provide new quarters every evening
for his beloved white horse, which, by the way, was a charming animal.
I say "his white horse," for he was more concerned about good quarters
for the horse than for himself. And so, for three-fourths of a year,
till Christmas,