"I was--a master sailmaker."
"And now--?"
"And now--you must think a lot of me, to ask such silly questions."
"Oh, you needn't be so snippy! You old fool, you may have been a master sailmaker, but that's not so much. I was a manufacturer--I owned a factory, do you understand?"
"You needn't shout at me--I knew that before. And after that, what did you manufacture?"
"What do you mean, after that?"
"You know what I mean--in jail."
Hürlin emitted a bleating laugh. "Oh, I suppose you're one of the pious kind--a psalm-singer, eh?"
"I? That's the last thing! No, I'm not pious--but at the same time I've never been in jail."
"You wouldn't have been at home there. Most of the people there are fine fellows."