teinmarc was very rusty?--The magistrates
had made up their minds that the bargain was a just one, and as it
had been made, they thought that it should be carried out. When
Peter complained of further indiscretion on the part of Linda, and
pointed out that he was manifestly absolved from his contract by
her continued misconduct, Herr Molk went to work with most demure
diligence, collected all the evidence, examined all the parties,
and explained to Peter that Linda had not misbehaved herself since
the contract had last been ratified. "Peter, my friend," said the
burgomaster, "you have no right to go back to anything,--to anything
that happened before the twenty-third." The twenty-third was the day
on which Peter had expressed his pardon for the great indiscretion
of the elopement. "Since that time there has been no breach of trust
on her part. I have examined all the parties, Peter." It was in vain
that Steinmarc tried to show that he was entitled to be absolved
because Linda had said that she hated him. Herr Molk did not lose
above an hour or two in explaining to him that little amenities of
that kind were to be held as compensated in full by the possession
of the red house. And then, had it not been acknowledged that he was
very rusty,--a man naturally to be hated by a young woman who had
shown that she had a preference for a young lover? "Oh, bah!" said
Herr Molk, almost angry at this folly; "do not let me hear anything
more about that, Peter." Steinmarc had been convinced, had assented,
and was now ready to accept the hand of his bride.

Nothing more had been heard of Ludovic since the day on which he
had come to the house and had disappeared. Herr Molk, when he was
interrogated on the subject, would shake his head, but in truth Herr
Molk knew nothing. It was the fact that Valcarm, after being confined
in prison at Augsburg for three days, had been discharged by the
city magistrates; and it was the case, also, though the fact was not
generally known, that the city magistrates of Augsburg had declared
the city magistrates of Nuremberg to be--geese. Ludovic Valcarm
was not now in prison, but he had left Nuremberg, and no one knew
whither he was gone. The brewers, Sach, by whom he had been employed,
professed that they knew nothing respecting him; but then, as Herr
Molk declared, the two brothers Sach were men who ought themselves to
be in prison. They, too, were rebels, according to Herr Molk.

But in truth, as rega