THE MYSTERIOUS SKETCH
BY ERCKMANN—CHATRIAN
Emile Erckmann (born 1822, died 1899) and Alexandre Chatrian (born 1826, died 1890), natives of Alsace-Lorraine, formed a literary partnership in 1847 and wrote many charming novels and plays which attained a great vogue. These, appearing under the signature of Erckmann-Chatrian, were supposed to be the productions of a single writer until 1863, when the collaboration was announced. It is said that their first stories were rejected by all the newspapers of Paris.
"The Mysterious Sketch" is from "Les Contes Fantastiques."
THE MYSTERIOUS SKETCH
By ERCKMANN—CHATRIAN
I
Opposite the chapel of Saint Sebalt in Nuremberg, at the corner of Trabaus Street, there stands a little tavern, tall and narrow, with a toothed gable and dusty windows, whose roof is surmounted by a plaster Virgin. It was there that I spent the unhappiest days of my life. I had gone to Nuremberg to study the old German masters; but in default of ready money, I had to paint portraits—and such portraits! Fat old women with their cats on their laps, big-wigged aldermen, burgomasters in three-cornered hats—all horribly bright with ochre and vermilion. From portraits I descended to sketches, and from sketches to silhouettes.
Nothing is more annoying than to have your landlord come to you every day with pinched lips, shrill voice, and impudent manner to say: "Well, sir, how soon are you going to pay me? Do you know how much your bill is? No; that doesn't worry you! You eat, drink, and sleep calmly enough. God feeds the sparrows. Your bill now amounts to two hundred florins and ten kreutzers—it is not worth talking about."