The parade of watch was more than usual; but curiosity
was dead in Otto's mind, and he only chafed at the interruption.
The porter of the back postern admitted him, and started to behold
him so disordered. Thence, hasting by private stairs and passages,
he came at length unseen to his own chamber, tore off his clothes,
and threw himself upon his bed in the dark. The music of the ball-
room still continued to a very lively measure; and still, behind
that, he heard in spirit the chorus of the merchants clanking down
the hill.
BOOK II - OF LOVE AND POLITICS
CHAPTER I - WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LIBRARY
AT a quarter before six on the following morning Doctor Gotthold was
already at his desk in the library; and with a small cup of black
coffee at his elbow, and an eye occasionally wandering to the busts
and the long array of many-coloured books, was quietly reviewing the
labours of the day before. He was a man of about forty, flaxen-
haired, with refined features a little worn, and bright eyes
somewhat faded. Early to bed and early to rise, his life was
devoted to two things: erudition and Rhine wine. An ancient
friendship existed latent between him and Otto; they rarely met, but
when they did it was to take up at once the thread of their
suspended intimacy. Gotthold, the virgin priest of knowledge, had
envied his cousin, for half a day, when he was married; he had never
envied him his throne.
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