at words are always at command. It
is almost as fortunate as the fact that horses are properly broken in,
and keep up their pace so nicely that they give one no trouble.

The friends rode on at a rapid pace. It was high noon when they reached
the village which Hansei and his family had left two days before. The
landlord of the Chamois was standing at the door, and respectfully
saluted the two horsemen with the groom behind them.

They alighted. Bruno handed the reins of his steaming horse to the
groom. The intendant led his friend into the front garden, where they
sat down. He then insisted on Bruno's taking a glass of wine. The host
quickly brought a sealed bottle, and vaunted it as the best wine in the
house. He also brought some roast meat and placed it on the table, and
as long as he had brought it, it must be paid for, even through it were
not touched.

The intendant took the host aside and, in a whisper, asked him whether
it was true that the body of a woman had been cast ashore near there.

The host answered in the affirmative, and with a smile of satisfaction.
The occurrence was a strange and unusual one, and it was only right
that it should enure to his great profit. The intendant again asked him
where the house was in which the body lay.

"I'll take you there," said the host, with a smile.

"Send for the burgomaster, also."

"There's no need of that; I'm a member of the council," said he,
hurrying into the house and returning with his long coat and his medal.
He meant to let the gentlemen see with whom they had to do. He felt
sure that they must be people of quality, or else they wouldn't be
traveling with a groom, and would have said: "Take your meat away; we
shan't pay for it!" He even fancied that he knew one of them.

"Begging your pardon," said he to the intendant, "but some years ago,
there was a painter here who looked enough like you to be your
brother."

The intendant well knew that it was himself who was referred to, but he
was not yet in the mood to renew the acquaintance.

The host accompanied the strangers to Hansei's house.

On the way there, he said: "She was a handsome creature. She was
beautiful, but good-for-nothing; and her belongings were as bad as she
was: particularly her one brother."

The intendant beckoned the innkeeper to be quiet. Bruno bit his lips
until they bled. They found it almost impossible to force their way
through the crowd which had gathered in the garden and