"Nothing! They give me no chance to open
my mouth, and if everything I said to-night had been written down and
laid before a man who was capable of judging, that he might give an
opinion of the person who made these remarks, he could not truthfully
say anything except: 'The fellow is perhaps not actually a simpleton,
but does not surpass mediocrity.' Yet I am received as if I were some
one of consequence. Yes, that's just it: it is not I, Louis, who am
treated so, for no one would trouble himself about me, but Prince Etc."
He became really jealous of "Prince Etc.," whom he regarded almost as
an enemy, who supplanted and cast into the shade his own individuality,
and the noble ambition entered his mind to win esteem by his
personality, not by the external advantages which chance had bestowed.
But this was no easy matter. "Prince Etc." everywhere stood
intrusively in his way and would allow poor "Louis" no opportunity. He
went to a university, less in order to study than to steep himself for
a few terms in the poetry of student life. The members of his
extremely aristocratic club formed in two ranks before him when he went
to their tavern, and old professors whom, hitherto, he had admired for
their works, blushed with joyous emotion when he introduced himself to
them, and in the class-room appeared to address him alone.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127