“But as he had discovered on his first journey that it is very unpleasant to be without money, he determined to try and help himself to wages, which his mistress had always promised but never yet given him. There was a room in the house which was always kept locked and the interior of which he had never seen, but he had often heard the old woman in it, and dearly wished to know what was hidden there. As he now sat wondering where the money for his journey was to come from, it occurred to him that the closed room might contain the old woman’s treasures, but alas! the door was locked and he was unable to get in. “One morning, when Madam Ahavzi had gone out, one of the little dogs, which had never been treated very kindly by her, but which little Mouk had petted and paid great attention to, came and pulled his wide trousers and made signs to Mouk to follow him. “Mouk, who had always been fond of playing with the little dog, followed it, and it led him into the bedroom of his mistress and showed him a little door he had never seen before. The door was ajar, and Mouk entering found himself in the room he had so long wished to enter. He peered about in every corner to see if he could find any money, but all in vain. Nothing but old clothes and strangely-shaped vases were lying about. One of these attracted his attention, for it was of crystal and had a number of beautiful figures engraved upon it. He took it up to examine it, but alas, to his horror, it had a cover which he had not noticed and which slipped off and broke into a thousand pieces. [Illustration: _Seeing an enormous pair of slippers, he made up his mind to take them._ (P. 66.)]