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Ch. 9: Interlude Vienna

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IX
Interlude: A Boy Clerk in Old Vienna
now I will leave the glamorous subject of precious stones for a moment to talk of the lad that was I. This is not pure egoism, I think, for those times
have an interest for the present generation, just as the locale of Vienna—now that the spirit and heart of Old Vienna have gone for ever and will never be the same again what­ever happens—casts a magic spell as of a legend over those who hear its glamorous name.
Little had my life in those times to do with Imperial Tokay or romantic gypsies. It had, on the contrary, much to do with a counting-house. For two years after my father's death I went to a commercial school and fitted myself, in my own estimation, for a business career. Such was my mother's plan. I myself intended to be a lawyer, and indeed, by the time I was twenty I had, by great ef­forts, obtained the degree of Doctor of Law at the Univer­sity of Vienna, but my destiny was to be otherwise.
I also went on learning English. Instead of Miss Pope, I had now to rely on books. Ollendorf was my teacher,
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Ch. 8: Family of Agate Page of 280 Ch. 9: Interlude Vienna
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