This equality between master and
apprentice disappeared the moment Karl took up his position at the
mouth of the furnace. At such times Manuel had to obey the German
without cavil or delay.
Karl's one vice was drunkenness; he was forever thirsty; whenever he
slaked this thirst with wine and beer everything went well; he led a
methodical life and would spend his free hours on the Pinza, de
Oriente or in the Moncloa, reading the two volumes that comprised his
library: one, _Lost Illusions_, by Balzac and the other, a
collection of German poems.
These two books, constantly read, commented upon and annotated by him,
filled his head with fancies and dreams. Between the bitter,
despairing, yet fundamentally romantic ratiocinations of Balzac, and
the idealities of Goethe and Heine, the poor baker dwelt in the most
unreal of worlds. Often Karl would explain to Manuel the conflicts
between the persons of his favourite novel, and would ask how he would
act under similar circumstances. Manuel would usually hit upon so
logical, so natural, so little romantic a solution that the German
would stand perplexed and fascinated before the boy's clearness of
judgment; but soon, considering the selfsame theme anew, he would see
that such a solution would prove valueless to his sublimated
personages, for the very conflict of the novel would never have come
about amidst folk of common thoughts.
Pages:
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180