"
Wilhelm looked at him surprised, and then remarked after a short
pause: "I would never have written to you, if I had dreamed that you
would get up before daybreak, and upset your whole household in
order to fetch me from the station."
"Why, what nonsense! We are quite used to getting up early. At
Friesenmoor we have to be still earlier."
"But that is in the summer."
"So it is, but then our broken rest is not made up to us by the
sight of a friend."
While they devoured the good things, and Paul, who despised tea and
coffee, sipped his slightly warmed claret, he remarked, between two
mouthfuls, "I was struck all of a heap by your letter. You turned
out! the most harmless, law-abiding citizen I ever heard of! What in
the world did you do? You need not mind telling me."
"I cannot say that I am aware of having committed any crime, Paul."
"Come now, something must have happened, for the police does not
take a step of that kind without some provocation--it's only your
beggarly Progressives who think that, but nobody who knows the
fundamental principles of our government and its officials would
believe it."
"You seem to have become a warm admirer of the government."
"Always was! But, upon my word, when I see the way the opposition
parties go on I am more so than ever--positively fanatical.
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