"Cajetan, it is as I said," sighed Andreas, turning with a doleful air to Doeninger, who sat at the desk, pen in hand, and bowed to the commander-in-chief with a shrug. "I come to you, the emperor's lieutenant, to demand justice," added the old man. "Your decree was unjust and contrary to law. The judges had decided in my favor, and by reversing their judgment, you treat with harshness and cruelty an old man who stands on the brink of the grave, and deprive my poor grandchild of its whole inheritance." "May God and the Holy Virgin preserve me from committing such a crime," murmured Andreas Hofer, crossing himself devoutly. "Ah, my friend, why did you not come to me ere this, and tell me all about it? I should have gladly assisted you in recovering what was due to you." "And yet it is your fault that I cannot recover what is due to me." cried the old man, mournfully. "Why should I have come hither ere this, and robbed you of your precious time? I confided in my good and just cause; I knew that the good God would not abandon me, and that He would not take from me, after losing innocently most of my property by the cruelty of the enemy, who burned down my house and outbuildings, the last remnant of my little fortune, the thousand florins which I lent to my friend, and which his rich wife engaged in her own handwriting to pay back ten years after date. The ten years had expired; the good God did not abandon me; for He caused the judges to grant me justice and adjudge the thousand florins to me." "And I took them from him again," murmured Andreas Hofer, with tears in his eyes; "and it is my fault that he will die with a grief- stricken heart. Cajetan, I have ruined the old man; tell me, advise me how to make amends for it." "You reversed the decision of the judges," said Doeninger, slowly; "you possess the power of reversing all decisions." Andreas Hofer was silent for a moment, and gazed thoughtfully into vacancy, as if to fathom the meaning of an obscure oracle; all at once his face brightened, and a joyous smile played round his lips. "I know it now, Cajetan," he exclaimed. "I have the power to reverse all decisions, and therefore my own also." Cajetan Doeninger nodded with silent satisfaction. The old man clasped his hands and gazed at Hofer with an expression of ardent gratitude. "Will you really do so, Andreas Hofer?" he asked tremblingly. "Will you reverse your own decree for the sake of justice?"