and besides he’s also somewhat disabled. But goodness, women are often so strange; if they take it into their heads they will deliberately throw themselves away, with pleasure, even ecstatically. Heh-heh-heh, that’s women for you. In 1886 I witnessed something very unusual: a young lady of my acquaintance simply married her father’s errand boy. I’ll never forget it. He was an apprentice in the store, a child of sixteen or seventeen, without even the beginnings of a beard; but he was handsome, oh, perfectly delicious, that I must admit. Anyway, she threw herself upon this greenhorn with a furious love and went abroad with him. After half a year or so she came back, her love gone. Sad, isn’t it? Her love was gone! Well, for the next few months she was bored stiff, being married and all and therefore out of the picture; what was she to do? She bangs the table, snaps her fingers at the whole world and has her fling, sowing her wild oats, as it were, running around with students and store clerks, and ends up being called La Glu. What a sorry sight! But once again she astonishes everybody: after amusing herself for a couple of years in this admirable way, suddenly one day she begins to write stories; she becomes an author, and was said to be very talented. She was incredibly quick to learn; those two years among students and store clerks had ripened her to an extraordinary degree and taught her the trick of writing. She went on to write some very fine things. Heh-heh-heh. What a devil of a woman! ... Oh, but that’s the way you women are. You may smile, but you can’t deny it, not outright. An errand boy of seventeen can easily make them lose their heads. I’m sure Miniman doesn’t have to go through life alone either, if he makes an effort and puts his shoulder to the wheel. You see, there’s something about him that even impresses a man, well, it impresses me: he’s so pure at heart, so defiantly pure, and there’s no guile on his lips. Don’t you agree? Knowing him inside out, you must realize that’s true. On the other hand, what shall we say about his uncle, the coal dealer? A sly old fox, I imagine, an unpleasant person. I have the impression that it’s really Miniman who is keeping the business afloat. And so I ask, Why shouldn’t he be able to run his own business? In short, Miniman is capable of supporting a family any day.... You’re shaking your head?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Oh, I see, you’re getting impatient and bored with all this talk about a man who doesn’t concern you, and you have good reason to.... Say, while I remember—now, don’t get mad, all I really want is to help you as best I can—you ought to lock your door securely at night! Why do you look so scared? Please don’t be afraid, and forget any doubts you may have about me. I only wanted to tell you that you mustn’t put too much trust in anyone, especially now that you have some money to look after. Not that I’ve heard anything that suggests the town is unsafe, but one can never be too careful. Around two o’clock in the morning, you know, it’s fairly dark around here; I’ve heard suspicious noises even outside my own windows at just that hour. Well, you won’t get angry with me because I’ve given you this piece of advice, will you? ... Goodbye, then! I’m glad I finally managed to wrest the chair away from you. Goodbye, dear!”
With that he shook her hand. In the doorway he turned and said, “Listen, you’d better say I gave you just a few kroner for the chair. No more, not a penny more, because then it will be confiscated, remember. I can trust you on that, can’t I?”
“Yes,” she replied.
He left, taking the chair with him. Beaming all over his face, he snickered and laughed aloud as if he had pulled off a clever prank. “Good Lord, how happy she must be now!” he said, elated. “Heh, heh, she’ll have a hard time sleeping tonight, with all that wealth!”
When he got back to the hotel, Miniman was waiting for him.
Miniman had come from a rehearsal and had a bundle of posters under his arm. Oh yes, the tableaux promised to be very successful; they represented scenes from history