most astonishment and asked
him if he knew the marvelous woman who had given him the note. But
just as the castellan started to answer "Kohlhaas, the woman--" and then
hesitated strangely in the middle of his sentence, the horse-dealer
was borne away by the procession which moved on again at that moment,
and could not make out what the man, who seemed to be trembling in
every limb, finally uttered.

When Kohlhaas arrived at the place of execution he found there the
Elector of Brandenburg and his suite, among whom was the
Arch-Chancellor, Sir Heinrich von Geusau, halting on horseback, in the
midst of an innumerable crowd of people. On the sovereign's right was
the Imperial attorney, Franz Mueller, with a copy of the death
sentence in his hand; on his left was his own attorney, the jurist
Anton Zaeuner, with the decree of the Court Tribunal at Dresden. In the
middle of the half circle formed by the people stood a herald with a
bundle of articles, and the two black horses, fat and glossy, pawing
the ground impatiently. For the Arch-Chancellor, Sir Heinrich, had won
the suit instituted at Dresden in the name of his master without
yielding a single point to Squire Wenzel Tronka. After the horses had
been made honorable once more by having a banner waved over their
heads, and taken from the knacker, who was feeding them, they had been
fattened by the Squire's servants and then, in the market-place in
Dresden, had been turned over to the attorney in the presence of a
specially appointed commission. Accordingly when Kohlhaas, accompanied
by his guard, advanced to the mound where the Elector was awaiting
him, the latter said, "Well, Kohlhaas, this is the day on which you
receive justice that is your due. Look, I here deliver to you all that
was taken from you by force at the Tronka Castle which I, as your
sovereign, was bound to procure for you again; here are the black
horses, the neck-cloth, the gold gulden, the linen--everything down to
the very amount of the bill for medical attention furnished your
groom, Herse, who fell at Muehlberg. Are you satisfied with me?"

Kohlhaas set the two children whom he was carrying in his arms down on
the ground beside him, and with eyes sparkling with astonished
pleasure read the decree which was handed to him at a sign from the
Arch-Chancellor. When he also found in it a clause condemning Squire
Wenzel Tronka to a punishment of two years' imprisonment, his feelings
completely overcame him