"As if that gentleman would listen to me! He says: 'Take this!' and if you try to remonstrate, he shouts: 'Hold your tongue!' and it's impossible to prevent him from doing what he wants to.--Ah! my fire is going at last!"
"But this Monsieur Malberg--for the gentleman of the third floor is named Malberg--I have never met him; what sort of looking man is he, Georget? You must have had a good look at him, didn't you?"
"Oh, yes! mother; why, he's a man neither young nor old. At first sight, I am sure that you would take him to be older than he really is, because when a person never laughs, that makes him look older. He may be somewhat over fifty years old; his face is not ugly, not by any means, but his features have a sort of stern expression; his eyes are always gloomy and melancholy, and there are great wrinkles on his brow; his eyebrows are heavy, and his hair must have been black, but it's a little gray now. When he fixes his great brown eyes on you, it frightens you; and yet I got used to them, for his expression is neither unkind nor contemptuous; it's--I don't know just how to describe it--it's sort of compassionate, or sorrowful; and his voice, which sounds harsh at first, is much less so when he's talked to you for some time. You see, mother, that gentleman isn't like most people; oh, no! he makes you respect him, and it comes natural to obey him, and you don't dare to say anything."
"Really, my dear, you make me long to know this gentleman; when I am able to go out, I shall go to thank him. And did you tell him----"
"Just how we are placed, what we used to be, and what father did. Yes, I told him everything. Did I do wrong?"
"No, my boy, we have done nothing which we need to be ashamed of or to conceal."
"Ah! my water is boiling; now I am going to make you some herb tea, mother; which would you rather have?"
"Why, tell me first what you have in your pocket."
"Wait and I'll show you; I have a whole lot of bundles! Here, see what this is."
"And--and--well! here's something else now!"
"What's the matter, Georget? Have you lost something?"
"Lost! oh, no! not by any means, mother! What I have just found in my pocket certainly wasn't there before! I am sure of that."
"Why, what have you found in your pocket?"