"I shall never be a barrister; I intend to be a very great and very rich doctor. Then I shall come back to Barnow and say to old Hirsch, 'Here are a hundred ducats, which will pay off all our arrears of rent.' After that, the Poles will come to me and entreat me to cure their diseases and to lend them money; but I shall turn upon them and say, 'Go away, you dogs!'" "And Rachel?" "What's that to you? Well--if you really want to know--I intend to marry Rachel, and when she is my wife she shall wear silk gowns; but they must be a thousand times more splendid than those that the Graefin...." Aaron Leiblinger was strange and somewhat eccentric even as a boy. There was nothing very noticeable in his appearance: he was short and insignificant-looking, and his face was almost ugly, but it was redeemed by beautiful and expressive eyes. His forehead was low, and the hair that hung over it was black and curly. He was of a thoughtful disposition, and many of his ideas were surprising in a boy who was the son of an ignorant hawker, and who lived in a miserable garret. He made, or rather forced, his way through life by his quick intelligence, firmness, and energy. For a time it might have been said of him that he succeeded in all his aims and desires. His mother had intended him to help her in her labors as fruit-seller as soon as he had learned to read the Prayer-book; but Aaron wanted to go to a Thorah school, and he went. He wanted to learn the Talmud, and to know it better than his school-fellows, and he succeeded. After that, he wanted to go to the Christian school--an unheard-of thing--and yet he had his own way.