st
be done. Ernst Ortlieb was the only person who could help him. It had
become impossible to seek aid from Herr Berthold Vorchtel, the man whose
oldest son Wolff had slain, and yet he possessed the means to save the
sinking ship from destruction.

When the news of the duel reached him the messenger's blanched face had
made him believe that Wolff had fallen. In that moment he had perceived
that his loss would have rendered him miserable for the rest of his
life. This was a source of pleasure, for since Wolff had extorted his
consent to the betrothal with Els Ortlieb, and thus estranged him from
the Vorchtels, he had seriously feared that he had ceased to love him.
Nay, in many an hour when he had cause to feel shame in the presence of
his prudent, cautious, and upright partner, it had seemed as if he hated
him. Now the fear of the judge whom he saw in Wolff was blended with
sincere anxiety concerning his only son, whose breach of the peace
menaced him with banishment--nay, if he could not pay the price of blood
which the Vorchtels might demand, with death. Doubtless he had done many
things to prejudice Wolff against his betrothed bride, yet he who had
cast the first stone at her now felt that, in her simple purity, she
would be capable of no repudiation of the fidelity she owed her future
husband. However strongly he had struggled against this conviction, he
knew that she, if any one, could make his son happy--far happier than
he had ever been with the tall, slender, snow-white, unapproachable
countess, who had helped bring him to ruin.

While consuming the food and drink, he heard his wife, usually a most
obedient daughter, disputing with her mother. This was fortunate; for,
if they were at variance, he need not fear that they would act as firm
allies against him when he expressed the wish to have Wolff's marriage
solemnised as soon as circumstances would permit.

It was not yet time to discuss the matter with any one. He would first
go to the Jew Pfefferkorn once more to persuade him to defer his
claims, and then, before the meeting of the Council, would repair to the
Ortliebs, to commit to Herr Ernst the destiny of the Eysvogel firm
and his partner Wolff, on which also depended the welfare of the young
merchant's betrothed bride. If the father remained obdurate, if he
resented the wrong he had inflicted yesterday upon him and his daughter,
he was a lost man; for he had already availed himself of the good will
of a