Then turning to the two friends--"I am very sorry,
but as things stand at present, I must let the law take its course.
Do you persist in your charge?" he asked the informer.
"Yes, Herr Lieutenant; my duty to my sovereign--"
"Silence. Gentlemen, I shall be obliged to notify the matter to the
proper authorities. I expect you will be called upon to clear
yourselves before the magistrate, which I have no doubt you will be
able to do successfully. I need not detain you any longer."
Wilhelm and Schrotter bowed courteously and withdrew, without
vouchsafing a glance at the informer. The latter lingered, as if he
would have liked to continue the conversation with the lieutenant of
police, but an emphatic "You may go!" sent him rapidly over the
threshold of the office.
Five days afterward, on a Friday, Schrotter and Wilhelm were
summoned to appear in the Stadtvogtei [Footnote: A certain prison in
Berlin.] before the magistrate, a disagreeable person with a bilious
complexion, venomous eyes behind his spectacles, and the unpleasing
habit of continually scooping out his ear with the little finger of
his left hand. The two friends, the informer, and the policeman were
present. The magistrate could not have received them differently if
they had been accused of robbing and murdering their parents.
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