one was Hanz Toodleburg, the other Doctor Critchel.

Two days before the sheriff of the county had seriously disturbed the
peace of Hanz's little house by walking in and making service of a legal
document of immense length--Topman and Gusher vs. Hanz Toodleburg--and
in which the names were recapitulated so many times, and in so many
different ways, as to bewilder Hanz's mind and send him into a state of
deep distress. In short, Topman and Gusher, (Chapman's name was not
mentioned, and for reasons which any sharp gentleman of the legal
profession will understand,) had entered suit against Hanz, charging him
with having made certain contracts he had not fulfilled, of procuring
money and certain other property for the sale of secrets he did not
possess, and indeed of having deceived and defrauded the plaintiffs, and
of committing crimes enough to have sent at least a dozen men to the
penitentiary. And all this to the serious damage, as well in reputation
as pocket, of the highly enterprising and rapidly advancing firm of
Topman and Gusher. And the plaintiffs prayed, as virtuous gentlemen are
known to pray in such cases, that the defendant's property might be
attached, and such damages decreed as in the discretion of the court
justice demanded.

The great Kidd Discovery Company was bearing bitter fruit for Hanz.
Never before had a sheriff darkened his door, for it had been the aim
of his life to owe no man a shilling, and never to quarrel with a
neighbor. But here he was with law enough for a life-time, and all for
doing a kindness for people he thought honest. He saw Chapman's finger
at the bottom of the transaction, but the more he pondered over his
troubles the more his mind got bewildered. He knew that before a court
his simple story would weigh as nothing against the proof they could
bring that he had been associated in some suspicious way with all the
circumstances which led to the formation of the great Kidd Discovery
Company. There, too, was a paper, bearing his own signature, and indeed
a confession of guilt.

In the midst of his grief it occurred to Hanz that a man who had
invented so many religions must be something of a Christian, so he
resolved to see him face to face, and have an honest talk with him. To
that end he persuaded Critchel, who was his friend and adviser always,
to bear him company into the city. He forgot that there were religions,
based on what are called advanced ideas, and invented so plentif