Egholm was very far from understanding, but he gave it up. Opening the book, he got to work at the lesson, but with less careful attention, perhaps, than usual. And after a little he broke in, cutting short his pupil in the middle of a sentence:
"But about the money--how will you get the money if you do go?"
"Why, then, of course, I shall sell all my apparatus."
So that was it. Egholm still seemed troubled in his mind. He knew the collection of things that formed Meilby's stock-in-trade. There was one item in particular--that devilish camera of his. It was quite a small one, but with a breadth of focus that could almost look round a corner. Fancy having that for his own! There would be an end of poverty then!
The windows of heaven should be opened, and the flood pour in--oh, in no time. He knew it, he felt sure of it. But the belly was not to be put off, not for so much as a day. And his hands were impatient too; there was a nervous thrill at the roots of the nails, or a deadly chill in the fingers from sheer inactivity. Every morning he raced about after the situations vacant in the papers, but always in vain. With Meilby's apparatus, he could make money--ay, though his studio had no roof but the February sky.
He grew quite genial towards his pupil, and praised him more than was properly his due. When they had finished with their brainwork for the evening, he said anxiously:
"But, promise me you don't go selling them without letting me know."
"Why, we'll be none the less friends for that," said Meilby, with an amiable smile.
"You'll get nothing out of him, you see," said Anna when he had gone. "It'll be just the same with him as with young Karlsen, when he came to learn English, too. Huh! It was you that learned something that time, if you ask me."
"He's an artful one," said Egholm, with a laugh. "He tricked the doctor when he went to be examined. But, after all--what's a trifle like that when a man stands firm on the rock of truth?"
"Do you think Meilby does? You think it's for any good he's going running off to America like that?"
Egholm, law-abiding man, paled at the thought, but said, with an attempt at liveliness:
"But he won't pay you at all unless he goes."
That, again, was true--painfully true. No ... anyhow, Egholm would have nothing to do with any doubtful affairs. Not for any price. Better let Meilby go his own gait as soon as he pleased.