ning over little
Annie's dying bedside, said, "Do you know why you are frightened?" and
reached out his hand to give the fatal blow; also he lay as if in a
fever dream before his father and brooded in anxious, terrible fear.
Then it was as if he had come to himself again and unending time had
elapsed between the moment when his father began to count and the
present. Everything must be all right by now, only he must try to
recall whether he had pushed his father aside and thus made his escape
or whether he had held back when his father attempted to drag him down
with him. But there he still lay, and there his father still sat. He
heard him count "nine" and stop. Consciousness forsook him completely.
The old gentleman had in truth ceased to count. His sharp ear heard a
hurrying footstep on the stairs. He seized hold of his son and held
fast as if to be sure that he did not escape him. So cold and lifeless
was the son's body that the father knew it was not necessary to hold
him; he must be unconscious. A new uneasiness awoke in him. If the son
had lost consciousness, he must be hidden from strange eyes, for this
unconsciousness might in some way arouse suspicion. He arose and
turned away from the window in the direction of the newcomer. He was
undecided whether he would stand before the window covering it with
his body or go forward to meet the intruder.

[Illustration: SCHNORR VON CAROLSFELD JOSIAH HEARS THE LAW]

The journeyman whom he had sent to Brambach, for it was he who was
approaching in such haste, coughed as he came up the stairs. He could
keep him back from the scaffolding and most likely prevent him from
seeing that somebody was lying there if he went to meet him; if he
stood in front of the window it was probable that he would not be able
to cover the whole space. The old gentleman felt now for the first
time how his strength had been broken by what he had gone through that
day. The journeyman, however, observed nothing unusual as Herr
Nettenmair, leaning on the rafters of the stairs, barred the way.

"Shall I tell him to come to you here, Herr Nettenmair?" asked the
journeyman.

"Tell whom?" Herr Nettenmair had difficulty in retaining his
artificial composure.

"He will be home by this time," responded the journeyman. The old
gentleman did not repeat his question; he held fast to the rafter on
which he was leaning. "He was already on his way home," continued the
journeyman. "I came with him as far as th