you may go."

In feeling words the woman once more appealed to Hans Shund. He
remained indifferent to her pleading, and smiled scornfully whenever
she adduced religious considerations to support her petition. Suddenly
Holt took her by the arm and drew her towards the door.

"Say no more, wife, say no more, but come away. You could more easily
soften stones than a man who has no conscience and does not believe in
God."

"There you have spoken the truth," sneered Shund.

"You sneer, Mr. Shund," and the man's eyes glared. "Do you know to whom
you owe it that your head is not broken?"

"What sort of language is that?"

"It is the language of a father driven to despair. I tell you"--and the
countryman raised his clenched fists--"it is to the good God that you
are indebted for your life; for, if I believed as little in an almighty
and just God as you, with this pair of strong hands I would wring your
neck. Yes, stare at me! With these hands I would strangle Shund, who
has brought want upon my children and misery upon me. Come away, wife,
come away. He is resolved to reduce us to beggary as he has done to so
many others. Do your worst, Mr. Shund, but there above we shall have a
reckoning with each other."

He dragged his wife out of the room, and went away without saluting,
but casting a terrible scowl back upon Hans Shund.

For a long while the usurer sat thoughtfully, impressed by the ominous
scowl and threat, which were not empty ones, for rage and despair swept
like a rack over the man's countenance. Mr. Shund felt distinctly that
but for the God of Christians he would have been murdered by the
infuriated man. He discovered, moreover, that religious belief is to be
recommended as a safeguard against the fury of the mob. On the other
hand, he found this belief repugnant to a usurer's conscience and a
hindrance to the free enjoyment of life. Hans Shund thus sat making
reflections on religion, and endeavoring to drown the echo which Holt's
summons before the supreme tribunal had awakened in a secret recess of
his soul, when hasty steps resounded from the front yard and the door
was suddenly burst open. Hans' agent rushed in breathless, sank upon
the nearest chair, and, opening his mouth widely, gasped for breath.

"What is the matter, Braun?" inquired Shund in surprise. "What has
happened?"

Braun flung his arms about, rolled his eyes wildly, and labored to get
breath, like a person that is being smothered.

"G