My father said, no; that would not do. The Miller and the Baker were in trouble, and had done no wrong; the Frenchman was also in trouble, but he had done wrong; and right was right and what was fair to one was fair to another. The Bailiff's Fritz just then came riding into the yard with the team, and came into the room. "Good evening, father," said he; "I have got off from the French," and he shook hands with the Bailiff, and then went up to my father, whose back was turned to him, and gave him a stout cuff: "Good evening, Hans, can't you speak to your brother?" My father started and turned round; Fritz stood fixed to the spot like Lot's wife. "Lord save us!" cried the Bailiff. "He comes in here and goes and strikes the Stemhagen Burmeister under my own roof. And the rascal is to be a bailiff some day!" "Never mind," said my father. "However, as a punishment he shall have no rest yet; he shall drive us over to Stemhagen this very night." "Through the whole world, if you like, Herr Burmeister," said Fritz. "But how is it you are so late home?" asked the Bailiff. "Why, father, I thought it might be ugly if they were to catch me and so I led the horses into the Wood, and stood on the watch; and I meant to stay there till evening, but while I was waiting, Luth came along and told me the French had been gone a long time, and that the Burmeister had escaped from them and that he was looking for him. "Where is Luth, now, then?" asked my father. "He'll he here directly," said Fritz, "he only stopped to make inquiries at the schoolmaster's." Luth came in presently, and when he asked for my father and saw him in the short jacket, he lost all control over himself, forgot everything that he had meant to say, and burst out laughing. My father got angry at this, for he was not thinking of the jacket now, but of my Mother and all at home, and he caught Luth by the collar:--"Luth, are you gone mad?" he cried; "What are my wife and children doing?" "They are quite well, Herr Burmeister--ha, ha, ha! And the Herr Amtshauptmann is reading out of a book to the Frau Burmeister, and Mamsell Westphalen is stuffing Fritz with buns and apples; but, ha, ha, ha!--don't take it ill, Herr Burmeister; I can't help laughing." Friedrich also began to laugh, and the Bailiff, and Fritz; and the Bailiff's wife said: "The Herr Burmeister does look very funny!"--My father's heart was light again now, so he could join in the laugh. "You may laugh now, Luth," he said, "but make haste, for I have some pressing business for you. The French took away the valise with the gold and silver, did they not?" "Yes, I saw it when they were dragging it off."