Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/436

 the purpose of waiting upon his customer; and as I followed him, I recognized, by a sign from the confectioner, the person of whom we had just been speaking. Figure to yourself, dear reader, a little dried up man with a yellow parchment skin, a pointed nose, thin lips, green eyes, a simple smile, powdered hair in the form of a pyramid; his costume was composed of a long thread-bare coat, the color of which had formerly imitated burnt coffee; his close fitting breeches, were buttoned down over gray stockings, and his feet were encased in square toed shoes with pinchbeck buckles. From the sleeves of his coat appeared two robust fists, which hardly accorded with a thin and whining voice that asked for preserved oranges, sugared chestnuts, sponge cakes and other delicacies. The confectioner hastened to wait upon him, and the old man drew from his pocket a well worn leather purse, from which he drew forth one by one some pieces of smooth change, which were hardly current. He paid grudgingly, murmuring broken and unmeaning phrases.

"Are you ill, my dear neighbor?" said the confectioner, "you appear to be quite melancholy: it is age, is it not? it is age"

"Ho, ho! ho, ho! ho, ho! who says that?" angrily growled the satanic old man, making such a clumsy pirouette, that in turning he very nearly crushed the paws of the little black dog that accompanied him, and made the store windows tremble in their frames, whilst the dog uttered piercing cries. "Accursed beast!" said the old man, opening his bag of sweetmeats to throw a cake to the cur, who was silenced by his gluttony, and stood upon his hind legs with the grace of a squirrel.

"Good night, neighbor," said the old servant, after the dog had finished his pittance, "good night, neighbor; the poor old man broken by age wishes you good luck and a long life!"

Saying this, he squeezed the confectioner's hand in his long claw, so rudely that the man of sweets uttered a cry of pain.