"Mr. Burgomaster!" cried Heidenreich firmly, and seized the old man's hand; "you know me for an honest citizen of this town, and a true friend to your family. The last, in particular, I should think I proved to you not very long ago. I, therefore, of all others, may well speak out to you boldly and plainly; and now entreat you, by the ancient honour of your office, do not this time give way to your love of vengeance, however alluring may seem the opportunity." "What are you dreaming of?" cried Erasmus, tearing away his hand from him. "Do I intend sitting in judgment myself on the murderer of my own son? Doctor Grenwitz will preside, in my place, over the criminal tribunal." "--Through whose mouth he will only echo your sentence! I must pray you to take off the mask before so old and faithful an acquaintance. You wish to destroy Tausdorf. That you have more than one reason for wishing it is plain to me; that in so doing you will preserve the forms of law is no more than I expect from your prudence; but you are wrong in the main point. The criminal jurisdiction over this man does not belong to the town." "How! Does not the emperor Wenceslaus' charter of 1384 give us full authority and power to seek, take, judge and execute, with imperial privilege, all offenders, when and in whatever place they may be found, and for whatever offences?" "The charter applies to thieves and robbers that may be apprehended within your jurisdiction. You cannot apply it to a nobleman and officer of his imperial majesty, whom you have arrested, contrary to all right, in the Fürstentein territory, and against the decree of king Wladislaus and the Convention of forty-five." "Tausdorf is a vagabond Bohemian and adventurer, with whom there is no occasion for using much ceremony." "By no means, Mr. Burgomaster; I have inquired narrowly into the matter. He is a native Silesian vassal. The father was possessed and settled in the hereditary principality, and the son is about to purchase an estate in Bögendorf. This affair comes under the jurisdiction of the prince palatine." "--That he may again do us such excellent justice as in the case of Bieler's murder?--or as in those violent assaults which the nobles, since that time, have indulged in against the citizens? No; once I have given way to the arrogance of the priest, but never again so long as I am burgomaster in Schweidnitz." "If, then, you could hope to obtain strict justice from the lord bishop, you would leave the farther proceedings to him?"