Nothing escaped him.

He never forgot a face, and was as familiar with the daily state of the funds as any broker on 'Change.

He still occupied the post of errand-boy, blacked Bernhard's boots, and dined in the kitchen; but it was plain that a stool in the office, which Ehrenthal kept for form's sake, would ultimately be his.

This was the goal of his ambition--the paradise of his hopes.

He soon saw that he only wanted three things to attain to it--a more grammatical knowledge of German, finer caligraphy, and an initiation into the mysteries of book-keeping, of which he as yet knew nothing.
Meanwhile, he had become a distinguished man in his caravanserai, one whom even Loebel Pinkus himself treated with respect.