Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/83

 will be made to jump the simple height of the stair-case which leads into the street. Zounds! I advise you to be proud. Your face must produce a pleasant effect in a looking-glass."

He had hardly finished this speech, when the little man rolled over on his seat, convulsed with laughter, crying out as loudly as he could—"Ha! ha! ha! my poor comrade, of what importance is my reflection? I have at least a shadow that has never been stolen from me."

And saying this, he went dancing out of the tavern. The tall thin citizen fell back into his seat like a man annihilated.

"What is the matter with you, my dear sir?" said I to him, with a tone full of compassion.

"What is the matter with me!" answered he with sobs—"what is the matter with me! Alas, that little man that you saw here just now is a wicked sorcerer, who comes to claim me in the last asylum where I had thought to find a refuge against the frightful misfortune of having lost my. Farewell, sir, farewell!"

And the stranger rising, walked rapidly towards the door, not throwing the least shadow on the walls.

"Peter Schlemihl! Peter Schlemihl!" exclaimed I, running after him; for by this I recognized this celebrated man accursed. But he had already got too far in advance of me, and disappeared in the darkness. When I turned to go back to my place, the host pushed me out by the shoulders, and shut the door in my face, saying—"May God preserve my house from such ghosts! I would as soon serve the devil in person!"

Mr. Mathieu is my intimate friend, and his porter the most stylish Cerebus that I know. The latter opened to me at the first sound of the bell that I rang at the door of the Golden Eagle. I related to him in a few words the little miseries of my evening; and as the key of my room remained in my