Landolin tried to sleep, but he soon sprang up again. A man may sleep
as much as he likes after he gets home, but now there is not a moment
to be lost. He rang the bell, and very submissively asked the keeper to
go for his son Peter, for he wanted to find out if the mother had come.
"What mother?"
"Oh pshaw! The mother of--of--of the poor fellow. Ask right out if
Cushion-Kate is here. And tell my son to give you twenty marks for the
saint's keeper."
"For the saint's keeper? Where is he?"
"Are you so stupid? Or are you only pretending? The saint's keeper is
inside of your coat."
The grim keeper chuckled, and said to himself:
"And just think of people saying that farmers are stupid."
He soon returned, and said that Vetturi's mother had not come, but--
"But what? Not my wife and daughter? I expressly forbade that."
"No, not they; but half the village."
"Did the saint's keeper get anything?"
"Yes," chuckled the keeper. The day had brought him a rich harvest,
both from those who were seeking to be dropped from the list of
jurymen, and had sought his influence with the different counsel for
that purpose, and from the people from the neighboring villages, whom
he had promised to let into the court-room before any one else.
Landolin was again alone. He visited, in fancy, the various inns of the
city, and the beer-garden near the station. He seemed to hear what the
people said--how they could hardly wait for the time when they might
see him in the prisoner's seat. Nothing is thought of to-day but
whether Landolin will be sentenced to death, or to long imprisonment,
or will be acquitted.
Something that was almost a prayer passed through his soul, but he did
not utter it; for he could not escape the thought that Cushion-Kate was
to-day praying to God for his just punishment. He started back. It
seemed to him as though she, herself, had run against him bodily.
The prison door was unlocked. Landolin was led through along passage to
the prisoner's waiting-room. The doors and the windows of the large
court-room were open; bright sunshine streamed in; the room was
empty---soon it would be crowded. The two keepers walked back and forth
near Landolin. Loud laughing and talking could be heard from the street
before the court-house. Who knows what jokes they were making! Men can
still laugh though there is one up here whose heart would fain stand
still. Landolin's eyes glistened. He said to himself: "After all I was
right in despising the whole world."
In the room in which he was now confined he could hear, as he listened
at the door, the tramp of steps through the long corridor. He would
have been glad to know whose steps they were. A confused sound of
voices reached his ear. At length he plainly heard the words "My
father!" It was Peter's voice. No doubt he had called so loud on
purpose that his father might hear him. Landolin felt as though he were
buried alive. He heard voices and could not answer them. His head swam
so that he leaned against the door-post.
The door was unlocked, and Landolin was led into the court-room.