And he will not be punished? No? And another fellow neither, if he does
it?

FREI.

Another fellow neither, I tell you. Over yonder the honest people set
fire to the castle and plundered it; several people lost their lives in
the affair; nobody cares a fig. Lucky he who now has an old grudge. And
Ulrich need not run far. Godfrey is reeling around there in the Dell;
he's lost his hat--

LINDENSCHMIED (_puts his hands with convulsive haste into his pockets_).

And nothing--absolutely nothing--not even a blunt knife about me!

SCENE III

_The same. Enter ANDREW._

ANDREW (_entering_).

Isn't it close in here! [_Takes off his muffler._] Good evening.

[_Wraps the muffler around the lock of the gun, and puts the gun next to
him against the wall._]

I advise every one not to touch this; the gun is loaded.

[_To the host._]

I do not know what is the matter with me. All at once I began to feel so
badly out there. I was going to wait for my brother at the boundary.
HOST.

Make yourself at home, Mr. Andrew.

ANDREW.

I suppose William has not yet come.

[_Throws himself on a bench, puts his arms upon the table and rests his
head upon them._]

FREI (_rattles his glass on the table_).

Let me have another one, host. And it is a favor that I now drink in
your place, when you still charge for it. In a week from now you will
have to provide the stuff, and no honest man need pay you a penny for
it, I tell you.

LINDENSCHMIED (_from this point on incessantly casting furtive glances
sometimes at_ ANDREW, _sometimes at the gun_).

If he would only go to sleep--that fellow!

[_Leaning across the table, secretly to_ FREI.]

There in the Dell, you say?--And are you quite sure, Frei, that nothing
will be punished any longer?

FREI.

Superstition, I tell you! If you do something, and they hang you, you
may call me a rascal for the rest of your life. Look here! What formerly
was called fidelity and honesty, that's a tale with which old grannies
used to humbug us. And a fellow that keeps his word is a scoundrel; such
a one I would not trust as far as the door. The common people are
essentially honest, because they are the common people. You ought to
hear those gentlemen over there talk; there was a professor among them;
he ought to know.

LINDENSCHMIED (_leads him aside_).

But what about conscience? And about the hereafter?

FREI.

All superstition! Nothing else, let me tell you.

LINDENSCHMIED.