"It is, then, the industrious and not the idle apprentice I meet ?" referring to a series of famous prints with which my room was decorated, a gift from my father on my departure.
I nodded and passed on, saying to myself: "Deuced industrious, indeed.
Not many men have done such a night's work as I have." And that was how my fortunes became bound up with those of the Aureataland national debt..