, and with her withered hands gave
him an apple which she had in her pocket. Kohlhaas answered, in some
confusion, that the children themselves, when they were grown, would
approve his conduct, and that he could do nothing of greater benefit
to them and their grandchildren than to keep the paper. He asked,
furthermore, who would insure him against a new deception after the
experience he had been through, and whether, in the end, he would not
be making a vain sacrifice of the paper to the Elector, as had lately
happened in the case of the band of troops which he had collected in
Luetzen. "If I've once caught a man breaking his word," said he, "I
never exchange another with him; and nothing but your command,
positive and unequivocal, shall separate me, good grandam, from this
paper through which I have been granted satisfaction in such a
wonderful fashion for all I have suffered."

The woman set the child down on the floor again and said that in many
respects he was right, and that he could do or leave undone what he
wished; and with that she took up her crutches again and started to
go. Kohlhaas repeated his question regarding the contents of the
wonderful paper; she answered hastily that, of course, he could open
it, although it would be pure curiosity on his part. He wished to find
out about a thousand other things yet, before she left him--who she
really was, how she came by the knowledge resident within her, why she
had refused to give the magic paper to the Elector for whom it had
been written after all, and among so many thousand people had handed
it precisely to him, Kohlhaas, who had never consulted her art.

Now it happened that, just at that moment, a noise was heard, caused
by several police officials who were mounting the stairway, so that
the woman, seized with sudden apprehension at being found by them in
these quarters, exclaimed, "Good-by for the present, Kohlhaas, good-by
for the present. When we meet again you shall not lack information
concerning all these things." With that she turned toward the door,
crying, "Farewell, children, farewell!" Then she kissed the little
folks one after the other, and went off.

In the mean time the Elector of Saxony, abandoned to his wretched
thoughts, had called in two astrologers, Oldenholm and Olearius by
name, who at that time enjoyed a great reputation in Saxony, and had
asked their advice concerning the mysterious paper which was of such
importance to him and al