"Bankruptcy is a hard matter; at your age you could not carry it through." "Do you think so, Herr?" "Yes, I do. We are both too old for it. We must leave such things to younger people. What do you think folks would say if I were to get myself declared bankrupt? Why, they would say, of course, the old Amtshauptmann up at the Schloss has gone quite mad! And," added he, laying his hand gently on the Miller's shoulder, "they would be right, Miller Voss. What say you, eh?" The Miller looked down at the toes of his boots and scratched his head: "It's true, Herr." "Tell me," said the old gentleman, patting him kindly on the shoulder, "where does the shoe pinch? What is troubling you?" "Troubling! say you, Herr Amtshauptmann," shouted the Miller, clapping his hand to the side of his head as if a wasp had stung him. "Troubling! Torturing, you mean. Torturing!--That Jew! That cursed Jew! And then the lawsuit, Herr Amtshauptmann, the cursed lawsuit!" "Look you, Miller, that's another of your follies, entangling yourself at your age in a lawsuit." "True enough, Herr; but when I began it I was in my prime and thought to be able to fight it out; now, I see clear enough that your lawsuit has a longer breath than an honest Miller." "But I think it's coming to an end now." "Yes, Herr Amtshauptmann, and then I shall be hard up, for my affairs are in a bad way. The lawyers have muddled them, and as for my uncle, old Joe Voss, why his son who will soon get possession of all is a downright vagabond, and they say he's sworn a great oath to oust me from the Borcherts Inn at Malchin. But I have the right on my side, Herr Amtshauptmann. And how I got into this lawsuit I don't know to this day, for old Frau Borcherts while she was still alive--she was the aunt of my mother's sister's daughter--and Joe Voss--he was my cousin...." "I know the story," interrupted the Amtshauptmann, "and if you would follow my advice, you would make it up." "But I can't, Herr, for Joe Voss's rascally son wouldn't be satisfied with less than half the money, and if I pay that, I shall be a beggar. No, Herr Amtshauptmann, it may go as it will, but one thing I'm resolved on, I won't give in though I go to prison for it. Is a ruffian like that, who struts about with his father's money in his pocket, spending it right and left, and who doesn't know what it is to have to keep up a house in these hard times--and who's never had his cattle carried off by those cursed French, nor his horses stolen out of the stable, nor his house plundered,--is such a rascal as that, to get the better of me? By your leave, Herr, I could kick the fellow." "Miller Voss, gently, Miller Voss," said the old gentleman, "the lawsuit will come to an end sometime or other. It is going on." "Going, Herr Amtshauptmann? It's flying, as the Devil said when he tied the Bible to his whip and swung it round his head." "True, true. Miller Voss; but at present you're not much pressed."