"No; let us hear it."
"The Famulus came very early to Schmidt's bedside, and said, very laconically--'the Geheimrath Forst is dead to-night. Have you any other commands?' 'Yes,' answered Schmidt, still heavy with sleep, 'I command the Geheimrath Langsam (a very rich and miserly old gentleman) to die too, and to make me his heir.'"
"Famously answered!" said Freisleben; "but, Mr. Traveller, you would know more of our household regulations. Our House-Philistine must provide for all our domestic necessaries, bringing in the account monthly, which, however, we are not obliged so very exactly to pay. They furnish us with wood, lights, etc. Breakfast we commonly brew for ourselves, in its proper machine. For the lodging, consisting of two rooms, we pay perhaps from thirty to forty gulden, and the house-besom receives besides, each semester, two kronen thaler--nine shillings, English."
"Upon my word, you live right reasonably in Heidelberg."
"Not quite so much so as you imagine. If you take into the account the expense of the college lectures, you cannot well, at least pleasantly, live under 800 or 1000 gulden. There are universities where you may live much cheaper, but few where you can live so agreeably as here. You know how Lichtenberg has divided the sciences. So I might here divide the universities into such as where a man may live cheaply and well, to which class Munich and Vienna particularly belong; where he may live cheap and badly, as in many of the smaller universities, particularly Halle, which affords only nutriment for the hungerers after knowledge; where he may live well and somewhat expensively, as at Heidelberg; and finally, where he may live dearly and ill, of which the great Berlin is an example. I speak here only of the material life, apart from which, every university has its peculiarities in many respects; in short, has its own ton. When you have learnt thoroughly to understand Heidelberg, and then afterwards visit other German universities, what a variety will you not find."
"I would gladly learn," said I, "the differences of these various universities which you say are so characteristic. It is a very interesting subject."
"But a long one," said my friend, "which we must reserve for another occasion. But," turning to Freisleben, he added, "I forgot to tell you something which the Boot-fox has communicated."
"What is it?" asked Freisleben.
"The Widow Mutch begs that she may be allowed to speak with thee."
"And what wants she?"