CHAPTER XXXVIII.
No one had returned Landolin's greeting from the veranda of the inn. To be sure the judge's wife, who sat near the railing, looked an acknowledgment, but that could not be seen at the distance. More she dared not do, for they were having a full meeting of the members of the "Casino," a society or association of the people of rank in the city, which met the first Wednesday after each full moon. Several members from a distance were there; the Catholic priest; and the only Protestant pastor of the district, with his wife.
The conversation naturally turned upon the monstrous verdict of the previous day. The corporation-attorney said that he was glad he had declined to defend the case. He could well imagine the surprise of Landolin's counsel when his client was acquitted. Of course, in such cases, a lawyer feels bound to make use of all possible dialectic arts and strategies, but still, when successful, he must feel the recoil of the gun.
The school-teacher, whom but few knew to be the editor of the weekly paper, The Forest Messenger, complained in a disheartened tone that this verdict of the overbearing farmers would necessarily intensify the hate existing between the different classes; for the poor man felt that he had no rights. It was high time that the choice of jurymen should no longer depend upon the length of a man's tax-list.
The attorney coincided with him, but went even farther, and asserted that it was an old prejudice of liberalism, that the ordinary mind could render a just verdict.
The judge nodded to him, and he continued, somewhat vehemently: "I now understand the legend of Medusa. The uneducated class is such a head. If a man should look into its face, he would turn into stone before its horrid visage, so wild, so malevolent, so false, so furious. Our much vaunted German nation is not yet ripe, either for universal suffrage, or for the right of sitting on a jury. Indeed, since we have obtained what we have so long and ardently desired, the German wave in the tide of morality is sinking away. Our German people are not so great as we believed and hoped."
The judge earnestly protested against this assertion, and insisted that although there were undoubtedly deplorable indications, still the wave was beginning to rise again.
The physician, who still clung to the old ideal of his student days--an ideal always mingled with a profound hatred of Metternich--came bravely to the judge's assistance, by declaring that the influence of the profligate times of Metternich is still felt; for our people persist in the belief that everything that our rulers propose to do is wrong and tyrannical; and applaud when the law is evaded, or a criminal slips through without punishment.
In conclusion the physician could not refrain from giving the lawyer, who, while he really had a contempt for the people, belonged to the so-called radical wing of the liberty party, to understand that his party was greatly to blame for the disorganization of the popular mind, by its carping depreciation of the great and good things which had actually been accomplished.
The clergyman agreed that the foundation of all the mischief lay in the weakening of religious belief; but the schoolmaster was bold enough to assert that in the boasted days of unshaken faith there was much more wickedness in the world than now.
The discussion was apparently about to be taken up with the subject of religion, which was strictly forbidden in the Casino. But the Protestant minister's timid, quiet wife, happily turned the conversation, by asking, during a slight pause:
"Are there not more offenders who are undetected than are ever brought to justice?"
No one seemed to care to answer this question, and the young lady blushed deeply at the silence that followed her words, but at length the schoolteacher took pity on her, and said, with a smile:
"It is quite impossible to give an exact answer to your question; but it is probably much as it is with the aërolites. Two-thirds of our planet is covered with water, consequently two-thirds of the aërolites fall into it unnoticed; and of the last third, which falls on dry land, not all are found."
This bright and skilfully devised figure led the company back into a more agreeable frame of mind.
The school-teacher, who liked to deal in generalities, continued:
"I would like to present another subject for consideration. It would be profitable to inquire in what different degrees, truthfulness, whether due to nature or education, is found to exist in different nations. This department of statistics would, I grant, be the most difficult."
The problem was not discussed; for the stationmaster entered, and said that Landolin's wife had come with the carriage, and that Landolin was expected by the evening train. Again the conversation turned upon Landolin. The old district forester, who, until now had not spoken, but had been steadily smoking his long pipe, said in his strong, grave voice:
"Nothing can be more pernicious than that the best and most universal belief, the belief in justice, should be shaken, or quite destroyed. Public opinion will and must rebel against the verdict in Landolin's case. The conscience of the people is still too strong and pure. But the very fact that the popular conscience condemns both him and the jury, undermines all stability."
The forester had scarcely finished speaking when the train arrived. Landolin soon drove past. The company had risen from the table, and the physician stood beside the judge's wife.
These two shared the noblest of vocations, and often met in their common work of aiding the unfortunate.
"Do you think," asked the lady, "that the innocent young people, Thoma and Anton, can now be happily united?"
The physician shrugged his shoulders, and she continued:
"I was going to Landolin's house, but our hostess advised me not. But now I think it is time to do something, and that I can be of benefit to them."
"You had better wait a few days, at least," counseled the physician. "You know a wound must bleed awhile, before it is allowed to heal. Besides, I am inclined to think that affairs have undergone a change. At first Landolin yielded an unwilling consent, now the miller will be obstinate. I should not be surprised if in the end the young people themselves----"
"I think I can prevent that."
With a polite bow the physician replied: "Faith is supposed to be able to remove mountains. I have great confidence in your faith. But hush!"
The piano struck up in the next room. A portly, merry Catholic priest sang with strong tenor voice; and presently the young wife of the Protestant clergyman was persuaded to sing a duet with him.
Joyous songs, sung by sweet voices, floated out into the moonlit summer evening, and all dissension and all misery seemed to be forgotten.