They haggled for a while, and finally agreed on sixteen. The man left at once, having promised to send one of his men up in the afternoon to get the desk. Theresa was already standing on the steps, when it occurred to her that it might be well to go through the drawers before letting the thing get out of the house: there might be some old documents in them. She went back up in the attic. In the dust of one of the drawers she found, sure enough, a bundle of papers, and among them the receipt which Gottfried Nothafft had sent back to Jason Philip ten years before. She read in the indistinct light the confidential words of the deceased. She saw that Jason Philip had received three thousand taler. After she had read this, she crumpled up the paper. Then she put it into her apron pocket and screamed out: “Be gone, Gottfried, be gone!” She went down stairs into the kitchen. There she took her place by the table and stirred a mixture of flour and eggs, as completely absent-minded as it is possible for one to become who spends her time in that part of the house. Rieke, the maid, became so alarmed at her behaviour that she made the sign of the cross. VI When the midday meal was over, the children left the table and prepared to go to school. Jason Philip lighted a cigar, and took the newspaper from his pocket. “Did you find anything for the second-hand furniture man?” he asked, as he puffed away. “I found something for him and something for myself,” she said. “What do you mean? You found something for yourself?” “What do I mean? I mean just what I said. I have always known that there was something crooked about that money.” “What money are you talking about? Listen, don’t speak to me in riddles! When you have anything to say to me, say it. Do you understand?” “I mean Gottfried Nothafft’s money, Jason Philip,” said Theresa, almost in a whisper. Jason Philip bent over the table. “Then you have at last found the old receipt, have you?” he asked with wide-opened eyes. “Ahem! You have found the receipt that I’ve been looking for for years ...?” Theresa nodded. She took out a hairpin, and stuck it in a crust of bread. Jason Philip got up, clasped his hands behind his back, and began to walk back and forth. Just then Rieke came in and began to clear off the table. She went about her business in a slow but noisy fashion. She made things rattle, even if she could not make them hum. When she was through, Jason Philip, his hands pressed to his hips, his elbows protruding, planted himself before Theresa.