And an old beggar-woman said, "That lady passing by is the widow of John
Durer, who died this three months gone, and who was in his time Minister
to his Majesty the Emperor."
II.
John Durer belonged to the family of a poor shepherd. He worked hard as
a scholar, but even when he was at play he showed a violent disposition
to domineer over the rest. He seemed to be devoured with ambition: at
all events he carried off every prize at school. By the time he was
fifteen he was the admiration, he was the pride, of all his masters. But
John was not loved by his schoolmates; he displayed a vanity which
repelled them, which sometimes provoked them. He made few friendships,
spoke freely with few, and looked haughtily down on such of his little
companions as were less happily gifted than he was. His words were
short, his look was cold, and the pride in which he shut himself up on
purpose, made him unapproachable. He lived by himself.
One evening this young Durer, feeling, even more than usually, the
necessity of solitude and meditation, went out into the country,
dreaming, no doubt, of the grandeur to which his pride aspired, and which
he was hopeless of ever reaching; for his face was sad, and he walked
with a slow step, as does some discouraged traveler on a road without
end, toward something in the distance that perpetually escapes him.
Pages:
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191