At the capital, the night following the trial was to be spent in
revelry and carousal.
When Landolin entered the chamber prepared for him at the Ritter inn,
he pulled off his coat, and hurling it across the room, exclaimed:
"There! I'm rid of it! I've felt the whole time as if I had an iron
jacket on."
In the great dining-room, where the table was already spread, he walked
up and down in his shirt sleeves. The host said smilingly that supper
would soon be served.
"Are the twelve men all coming?" asked Landolin.
"They were all invited, but they seem to have slipped into the ground
and vanished."
The first to arrive was Landolin's lawyer. He seemed far from being
elated with his victory; and in Landolin's manner toward him there was
by no means the same dependence and helplessness as before. Then
Landolin had treated him as a very sick man does his physician; every
word and every glance were welcomed as though fraught with healing. Now
Landolin was an ungrateful convalescent, who has come to the conclusion
that he has not been sick at all; or, at any rate, that not the
physician, but his own good constitution has helped him through.
"You are right," said his counsel, "you should have been a lawyer. Your
last words turned the scale. It was a master stroke."
Landolin accepted this praise as his due, and made no reply.
"Call Anton! Where is Anton?" said he, turning to his son.
"When I was sending the dispatch I met him at the depot. He went home
on the freight train, which usually takes no passengers; but the
conductor is an old comrade of his, and smuggled him on board."
Landolin whistled, and walked hastily around the table, on which they
were just placing the wine-bottles.
"Landlord, bring in the supper. Herr Procurator, take this chair beside
me. So, this is a different way of sitting down together. I invited all
the jurymen,--all. I don't want to know who said guilty, or who said
not guilty. I don't want to have an enemy in the world. If they don't
come--all right. I've shown how I feel, and that's enough. Landlord,
let the witnesses come in, and anybody else that's there. Be sure and
call Tobias."
Tobias soon appeared. To be sure he had just eaten in the hostler's
room; but he wiped his mouth, as though he would say, "If it's
necessary I'll do it again." So he sat down next to Peter, and fell
bravely to work.
The so-called common people who had testified now came in. This was, to
be sure, no company for Landolin, but he could not do less than give
the poor fellows a good bite and a good drink. He asked what the
witness fee was, and when he heard how small it was, he said he would
like to double it, but he dared not, lest it should be said that he had
tried to bribe them. By this speech he sought to ingratiate himself
with these people at no expense to himself.
Tobias nudged Peter with his elbow, and laughed and drank. Peter cast a
look at him as though he would like to tear him to pieces, then quickly
controlled himself and joined in the laugh. His face wore the
expression of a young fox who has just caught his first hare, and is
feasting upon it.
Among the guests were some who had been Landolin's companions when he
was young; and they strove to divert him by reminding him of his wild,
youthful pranks. Landolin laughed and drank immoderately. The lawyer
did not find it congenial, so he slipped quietly away. Landolin's eyes
often fell upon the empty chair at his side, but he looked quickly
away. Suddenly he called out, "Take away that empty chair! Who the
devil is going to sit there? Take it away! Away with it!" He jumped up
and overturned it with such force that all the four legs were broken.
"You oughtn't to do that father. Be quiet!" whispered Peter, sternly,
and roughly grasped his father's arm.
"Let go! I'm all right," said Landolin, quieting down. "Come, Tobias,
come with me! Indeed I have not drunk too much to-day, but I have gone
through so much that its almost upset me. Here, Tobias, let me lean a
little on you. Good night to you all. I hope you will get home all
right. I shall soon follow you."
He went up to his room with Tobias, and as soon as he got there he
caught tight hold of Tobias' arms and cried:
"Be still! I won't hurt you. Not you! You haven't deserved it. Do you
know what I long for? Do you know what I wish?"
"How can I know it?"
"I'd like to have one of 'em between my thumb and finger, like this,
so--Hutadi! I'd like to snap and crack his arms and legs. I'd like
best to get at Titus--or all of the six--they ought to have been
unanimous--the cursed--"
"Let me go, master," begged Tobias, for the grip of his hand was far
from gentle; "and I advise you to keep quieter. You can say anything
you like to me. What we two have got through together, can't be
undone."
The situation dawned upon Landolin. He, the farmer, was reproved by his
own servant.
"All right, all right," he muttered and soon fell sound asleep.