band's shoe. Before long they
found the Jew's body in a trench filled with dry leaves.

This was the report of the servant, supported only in general by the
wife; her intense agitation had subsided and her senses now seemed half
confused or, rather, blunted. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!"
These were her only words, which she at intervals ejaculated.

The same night the guards were summoned to take Frederick into custody.
They needed no warrant, because Herr von S. himself had been witness to
a scene which inevitably threw the strongest suspicion on him;
furthermore there was the ghost story of that night, the beating
together of the sticks in the forest of Brede, the scream from above.
Since the clerk of the court was at that time absent, Herr von S.
hastened everything faster than would otherwise have been done.
Nevertheless dawn was already breaking when the riflemen as quietly as
possible surrounded poor Margaret's house. The Baron himself knocked; it
was hardly a minute before the door was opened, and Margaret appeared,
fully dressed. Herr von S. started; he scarcely recognized her, so pale
and stony did she look. "Where is Frederick?" he asked in an unsteady
voice.

"Search for him!" she answered, and sat down on a chair. The Baron
hesitated a moment longer.

"Come in, come in," he then said roughly to the guards; "what are we
waiting for?" They stepped into Frederick's room. He was not there, but
the bed was still warm. They climbed to the garret, down the cellar,
examined the straw, looked behind every barrel, even into the oven; he
was not there. Some of them went into the garden, looked behind the
fence and up into the apple trees; he was not to be found.

"Escaped!" said the Baron with conflicting feelings; the sight of the
old woman made a strong impression on him. "Give me the key to that
trunk!" Margaret did not answer. "Give me the key," he repeated, and
noticed now for the first time that the key was already in the lock. The
contents of the trunk were brought into view--the fugitive's best Sunday
clothes and his mother's poor finery, then two shrouds with black
ribbons, one made for a man, the other for a woman. Herr von S. was
deeply affected. Under everything else, at the very bottom of the trunk,
lay the silver watch and some documents in a very legible hand, one of
these signed by a man who was strongly suspected of alliance with the
forest-thieves. Herr von S. took them along to exami