laid on the table a sleigh bell falls from among
the gold coins. He seeks his own room, falls asleep and dreams that
he is before the court and that Dr. Frantz is mesmerizing him.

_Enter_ MATTHIS

MAT. Happy fellow! happy fellows all of them! A man may play against
fate if he only prepares his cards--I hold none but good ones in my
hand. Ha, ha! They have their skins full of my best wine, and go home
happy as kings. Ha, ha! there'll be some funny flounderings in the snow
before they reach home. It's singular what magic is melted into
wine--one draught, and all the clouds are sunshine. It's dark! it's very
dark--and, though the wind has fallen, the fine snow sweeps down the
road like a train of phantoms. All is well! You may shake hands with
yourself, Hans Matthis! you have triumphed over both the world and
Heaven! I am so sleepy! If I rest here a--a moment? Ah! One is always
drowsy in cold weather. No one can hear me if I speak--in a dream--no
one--the Jew!--dreams, nonsense! [_Sleeps_.]

_Enter_ DR. FRANTZ _and the_ JUDGE

DR. F. My lord, it is the will of this tribunal which leads me here, not
mine.

JUDGE. Can you place that man in the mesmeric sleep?

DR. F. I can. But he is strong-willed, and the task may be hard.

MAT. No, no! I have no fear. [_Shudders; aside_.] Matthis, if you fall
asleep you will be lost!

DR. F. [_to_ MATTHIS]. I will that you should sleep! [_Makes magnetic
passes while looking at_ MATTHIS.]

MAT. No, no!

DR. F. It is my will. He sleeps. What must I ask?

JUDGE. What he did on Christmas Eve, fifteen years ago.

DR. F. I command you to be on the night of December the
four-and-twentieth, year 1853.

MAT. [_softly_]. Yes.

DR. F. What is the hour?

MAT. It is half-past eleven o'clock.

DR. F. Speak! It is my will!

MAT. The customers have left the inn. Catherine and little Annette have
gone to bed. Kaspar comes in and says--the fire in the lime-kiln is
drawing well. I answer: "Very good. Go to bed. I'll go have a look at
it." He goes up stairs. I am alone with the Polish Jew, who is warming
himself at the stove. All are asleep in the village. All I heard was the
sleigh-bell jingling on the Polander's horse in the shed. There was two
feet of snow on the ground. I thought of my want of money. If I did not
have three thousand francs by the end of the month, the inn would be
taken from me. I thought--no one is on the road--'tis night, and the
Polander will be all