shuttered, or, in process of scouring, hung out their curtains to
flutter on the sill.

The days passed, unmarked, eventless, like the uniform pages of a dull
book. When the solitude grew unbearable, Maurice went to visit Frau
Furst, and had his supper with the family. He was a welcome guest, for
he not only paid for all the beer that was drunk, but also brought
such a generous portion of sausage for his own supper, that it
supplied one or other of the little girls as well. Afterwards, they
sat round the kitchen-table, listening, the children with the
old-fashioned solemnity that characterised them, to Frau Furst's
reminiscences. Otherwise, he hardly exchanged a word with anyone, but
sat at his piano the livelong day. Of late, Schwarz had been somewhat
cool and off-hand in manner with him; the master had also not
displayed the same detailed interest in his plans for the summer, as
in those of the rest of the class. This was one reason why he had not
gone away like every one else; the other, that he had been unwilling
to write home for an increase of allowance. Sometimes, when the day
was hot, he envied his friends refreshing themselves by wood,
mountain or sea; but, in the main, he worked briskly at Czerny's
FINGERFERTIGKEIT, and with such perseverance that ultimately his
fingers stumbled from fatigue.

With the beginning of August, the heat grew oppressive; all day long,
the sun beat, fierce and unremittent, on this city of the plains, and
the baked pavements were warm to the feet. Business slackened, and the
midday rest in shops and offices was extended beyond its usual limit.
Conservatorium and Gewandhaus, at first given over to relays of
charwomen, their brooms and buckets, soon lay dead and deserted, too;
and if, in the evening, Maurice passed the former building, he would