--and the vice-consul Drescher
whispered to the burgomaster,--"Recall your order!"

Erasmus bit his lips till they bled.

"What are you standing for, idiots?" he exclaimed to the three servants
who remained at the door in anxious uncertainty as to which command
they were to obey. "Don't you know that the majority of voices decides
in our sittings? The arrest of Von Hochberg may remain."

The servants left the room; Erasmus, rising from his chair, said, "The
sitting is over, gentlemen; but we will, with your good pleasure, have
a meeting extraordinary to-morrow, to weigh maturely what farther is to
be done in this matter."

"If in this extraordinary sitting," said Kaspar, as he broke up, to his
neighbour, "we do not find the art of replacing heads that have been
chopped off, we shall descend from the Sessions-house as wise as we
went up."

The other aldermen said nothing, but saluted the burgomaster in
silence; and the old man soon stood alone before the council-table in
the empty chamber.

"Yes," he muttered; "I must no longer conceal it from myself; it is
coming to an end with the old lion. Teeth and claws grow blunted. The
brutes, that once shook at his roar, now renounce their obedience, and
mock the feeble monarch; even the ass must give his kick. Die,
therefore, Erasmus, die soon, that you may not outlive yourself."

"A new misfortune has happened, Mr. Burgomaster," cried the
city-marshal, entering hastily. "The gardener in the park, who
exhibited the aloe for some time past, has suddenly disappeared; but
the Netherlandress, who lodged with him, was found dead in her room an
hour ago. I went thither with two officers to seal up every thing, and
took the town-physician with me; for the flight of the host, and the
lady's death, seem to stand in a doubtful connexion. The people of the
house talked of poison. I found the woman lying on the floor, in an
upper room, horribly disfigured; and on the table was a cup, the dregs
of which the physician positively declared to be poison. In her stark
right hand the corse held fast this writing. It is addressed to you,
Mr. Burgomaster, and sealed moreover."

"To me!" said Erasmus, in alarm; tore the writing away from the
marshal, and broke it open. A quantity of dry leaves fell out of it
towards him--"Strange!" he murmured, and began to read; and, as he
read, the hand in which he held the letter trembled more and more, till
at last he grew so faint that he sunk back int