What in the world could and would become of me!
I was still greatly discomposed as the carriage stopped before my
old inn. I was horrified at the bare idea of entering that wretched
cock-loft. I ordered my things to be brought down; received my
miserable bundle with contempt, threw down some gold pieces, and
ordered the coachman to drive to the most fashionable hotel. The house
faced the north, and I had not the sun to fear. I dismissed the driver
with gold; caused the best front rooms to be assigned me, and shut
myself up in them as quickly as I could!
What thinkest thou I now began? Oh, my dear Chamisso, to confess it
even to thee makes me blush. I drew the unlucky purse from my bosom,
and with a kind of rage which, like a rushing conflagration, grew in
me with self-increasing growth, I extracted gold, and gold, and gold,
and ever more gold, and strewed it on the floor, and strode amongst
it, and made it ring again, and, feeding my poor heart on the splendor
and the sound, flung continually more metal to metal, till in my
weariness I sank down on the rich heap, and, rioting thereon, rolled
and reveled upon it. So passed the day, the evening. I opened not my
door; the night found me lying on my gold, and then sleep overcame me.
I dreamed of thee. I seemed to stand behind the glass-door of thy
little room, and to see thee sitting then at thy work-table, between
a skeleton and a bundle of dried plants.
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