er lived in the village as if it were a wilderness.
None bade him the time of day; nobody came to see him. When he entered
the inn, there was a general silence. It always seemed as if they had
just been talking about him. He would lay his well-filled tobacco-pouch
upon the table beside him; but the company would sooner have swallowed
pebbles than asked the manor-house farmer for a pipeful of tobacco. At
first he took great pains to disarm the general ill-will by kindness
and courtesy, for he was a good man by nature, though a little rigid;
but when he saw that his efforts were fruitless he began to despise
them all, gave himself no more trouble about them, and only confirmed
his determination to gain his point. He withdrew from all companionship
of his own accord, hired men from Ahldorf to do his field-work, and
even went to church at Horb every Sunday. He looked stately enough when
on this errand. His broad shoulders and well-knit frame made him seem
shorter than he really was; his three-cornered hat was set a little
jauntily on the left side of his head, with the broad brim in front.
The shadow thus flung on his face gave it an appearance of fierceness
and austerity. The closely-ranged silver buttons on his collarless blue
coat, and the round silver knobs on his red vest, jingled, as he
walked, like a chime of little bells.

His wife and children--particularly the two daughters, Agatha and
Vefela--suffered most under this state of things. They often sat
together bewailing their lot and weeping, while their father was
discussing his stoup of wine with his lawyer in town and did not return
till late in the evening. They had become so much disliked that the
very beggars were afraid to ask alms of them, for fear of offending
their other patrons. In double secrecy, as well from their father as
from their neighbors, they practised charity. Like thieves in the
night, they would smuggle potatoes and flour into the garden, where the
poor awaited them.

At last this was too much for Mrs. Zahn to bear: so she went to her
father and told him all her troubles. Old Staufer was a quiet, careful
man, who liked to be safe in whatever he did. First of all, therefore,
he sent his peddler-in-ordinary and general adviser in the practical
duties of his magisterial office, who was of course a Jew, and bore the
name of Marem, to Nordstetten, directing him to inquire privately who
were the actual ringleaders in carrying on the lawsuit, and t