"I thank you from my heart," whispered Mrs. Struvelius, taking out her purse from her pocket. "If there is only sufficient," she said, anxiously drawing the strings. "Let us see quickly how much we have."

"G.o.d forbid!" cried Laura, hastily. "It is full of gold."

"I have turned everything that I could into money," replied Mrs.

Struvelius hurriedly; "everything else is of little value."

Ilse took the purses out of the hands of both ladies and said firmly:

"That is far too much. We ought not to offer him such sums; we do not know whether we should not thus be exposing the poor man to the temptation of doing wrong. If we offer him money we embark in a transaction which we do not thoroughly understand."

The others disputed this, and there was much whispered consultation. At last Laura decided:

"He shall have two pieces of gold, that is settled." Laura hastened out to bring back the prisoner.

When the Magister entered, Mrs. Struvelius looked so imploringly at Ilse, that the latter made up her mind to carry on the negotiation.

"Magister, we have set our hearts upon having this bit of ma.n.u.script with which the professors have been so much occupied, and as you know about it, we request your help to obtain it."

A submissive smile played over the lips of Magister Knips.

"We wish to buy it," interposed Mrs. Struvelius; "and we beg of you to undertake the purchase. You shall have the money necessary for it."

Forgetting her agreement in their intense anxiety, she put her hand into her purse and counted one louis d'or after another on the table, till Laura sprang up, terrified, and tugged at her shawl from behind.

Knips again laid his head on his shoulder, and fixed his eyes upon the small fingers of the Professor's wife, from which fell one gold piece after another.

"This, and still more, shall be yours," cried Mrs. Struvelius, "if you will procure me the parchment."

The Magister fumbled in his pocket for his handkerchief, and wiped his forehead.

"It must be well known to the ladies," he said, plaintively, "that I have to read many proof-sheets, and to work late into the night before I can earn the tenth portion of what you lay before me. It is a great temptation to me; but I do not believe that I can obtain the strip of parchment; and if I should succeed I fear it will only be upon condition that it shall not get into the hands of any of the professors, but be destroyed here in your presence.

"Go out again, Magister Knips," cried Laura, springing up, "and leave your hat here that you may not escape us."

The Magister disappeared for the second time. Again the women put their heads together.

"He has the parchment, and he can produce it; we know that now,"

exclaimed Laura.

"We cannot agree to his offer," said Ilse. "It is not right for us to take possession of the parchment; it must be examined by our husbands, and then returned to the Magister."

"I beg of you to take away all this money," cried Laura, "and permit me now to adopt another tone with him, for my patience is at an end." She opened the door: "Come in, Magister Knips. Listen attentively to me.

You have refused, and the money has disappeared, all but two pieces, which may still be yours; but only on the condition that you procure for us at once what Mrs. Struvelius has begged of you. For we have clearly seen that you possess the strip, and if you still refuse we shall have cause to suspect that you have acted dishonorably in the matter."

Knips looked terrified, and raised his hands imploringly.

"I shall go directly," continued Laura, "to your mother, and tell her that there is an end to all connection between her and our house; and I shall go over to Mr. Hahn, and tell him of your conduct, that he may set your brother at you. Your brother is in business, and knows what is upright; and if he does not see it in that light, Mr. Hahn will, and that would not be to the advantage of your brother. Finally, I tell you further, I will at once send over for Fritz Hahn and tell him everything, and then _he_ shall deal with you. Fritz Hahn will get the better of you, you know, and so do I, for he always did when we were children. I know you, Magister. We, in our street, are not the sort of people to allow ourselves to be hoodwinked, and we value good conduct in the neighborhood. Therefore, procure the parchment, or you shall know Laura Hummel."

Thus spoke Laura with flaming eyes, and clenching her little hand at the Magister. Ilse looked with astonishment at her determined friend.

If a discourse is to be judged by its effect, Laura's speech was a pattern, for it worked most disturbingly on the Magister. He had grown up among the people and customs of that little street, and could well appreciate the consequences which Laura's hostility would exercise on the needy circ.u.mstances of his private life. He, therefore, struggled for a time for words, and at last began, in a low voice:

"As even Miss Laura suspects me, I am undoubtedly compelled to tell how the affair stands. I know an old traveling pedlar who carries about with him various antiquities--wood-cuts, miniatures, and also fragments of old ma.n.u.scripts, and anything of the kind that comes in his way. I have frequently obtained him customers, and given him information upon the value of rare things. This man, during his stay here, showed me a collection of old parchment leaves, concerning which he was already, he said, in negotiation with a foreigner. Attention being drawn to the double writing on the leaves, the strip appeared noteworthy to him, and to me also. I read some of it, as far as could be made out through the paste that lay upon it; and begged him at least to lend me the parchment that I might show it to our scholars. I carried it to Professor Struvelius, and as he judged that it might perhaps be worth the trouble of examining, I went again to the dealer. He told me he would not sell the strip outright, but he should like something to be written concerning it, as that would increase its value; and he delivered it into my hands till his return. This week he came again to take it away with him. I do not know whether it is still to be had, or whether he will take this money for it. I fear not."

The ladies looked at each other.

"You all hear this statement," began Mrs. Struvelius. "But why, Magister, did you beg my husband to tell no one that the parchment came from you?"

The Magister turned on his chair and again looked at his knees embarra.s.sed.

"Ah, the lady will not be angry if I speak out. Professor Werner had always been very friendly to me, and I feared that he might take it amiss if I did not first show him such a discovery. But Professor Struvelius had also a claim to my grat.i.tude, for he had graciously intrusted to me the proof-sheets and table of contents of the new edition of his great work. I was, therefore, in fear of offending two valuable patrons."

This was unfortunate, certainly, and not improbable.

"Oh! do contrive that your husband may hear him," exclaimed Mrs.

Struvelius.

"We hope, Magister, that you will repeat your words before others who can understand the import of them better than we do," said Ilse.

The Magister expressed his willingness timidly.

"But you must, nevertheless, procure the parchment," interposed Laura.

Knips shrugged his shoulders. "If it is possible," he said; "but I don't know whether the man will give it up for this sum."

Mrs. Struvelius was again putting her hand into her pocket; but Ilse held it back, and Laura cried out:

"We will give no more."

"Nevertheless," continued the Magister, impelled by the determination of his judges, "as doubts have been raised of its genuineness, the parchment may have lost some of its value for the dealer. But if I should succeed in being of service to you, I respectfully entreat you not to bear any malice against me for the unfortunate share which, without any fault on my part, I have had in this sad business. It has grieved me much the whole time; and since the criticism of Professor Werner has been printed, I have daily lamented that I ever set eyes on the parchment. I should sink into an abyss of misery if I were to lose my respected patrons."

These words excited the compa.s.sion of his judges, and Mrs. Struvelius said, kindly:

"We believe you, for it is a dreadful feeling to have deceived others, even unintentionally."

But Laura, who had established herself as president of the council, decided shortly:

"I beg that all who have taken part in this will meet here to-morrow at the same hour. I give you to that time, Magister Knips, to procure the parchment. After the expiration of this respite our house will be closed to you, our washing withdrawn, and notice given to the Hahn family. See, therefore, that we come to an amicable settlement."

The Magister approached the table, drew with one finger the gold pieces into the palm of his hand, which he modestly held under the edge of the table, made three low bows, and took leave of the ladies.

Ilse related the adventure to her husband, and Felix listened with astonishment at the role which the learned factotum had played in the tragedy.

On the following morning the Magister made his appearance before the Professor. Breathless he drew out of his pocket the unfortunate strip of parchment, and carried it with bowed head and outstretched hand, bending lower and lower, humbly and imploringly, from the door to the writing-table of the Professor.

"I venture to bring this to you, rather than encounter the ladies for a second time. Perhaps you will graciously deign to deliver this through your wife into the hands of its new possessor."

When the Professor examined him severely, he began a statement in defence of himself. What he said was not improbable. The name of the doubtful trader was known to the Professor. He was aware that he had been staying in the town during the course of the last few weeks, and from the numerous communications that Knips had had with this man in the interest of his patrons, there was nothing extraordinary in their intimacy. The Professor examined the parchment carefully. If there had been a forgery here, it had been carried out in a masterly way; but Knips produced a microscope from his waistcoat pocket, and pointed out how, by means of the magnifying gla.s.s, one could discover that sometimes the shadowy characters of the apparently very ancient handwriting had been introduced _over_ the words of the church prayers, and had therefore been painted on at a later period.