“Nonsense!” cried Vögeli furiously; “all the world knows that my father had already disinherited Heinrich.” The old man made no reply. He knelt down by the wounded officer, and after carefully examining his injury shook his head gravely, to the innkeeper’s great alarm.
“Merciful Heaven!” he cried, “the town guard will soon be here, and I shall be punished for permitting this affray in my house. Hagenbach, too, will not fail to remember what has happened here to his officer.”
“Have you no friend?” asked Hassfurter; “I mean one on whom you can rely, who would take care of this fellow for you? As for the Burgundians, gold will keep them silent concerning the affair. They are not altogether guiltless themselves, and would not escape punishment if the facts were known.”
“I have indeed such a friend,” replied the innkeeper in a tone of relief, “Hans Irmy, a magistrate of our town. Our places adjoin, and we can easily carry the man thither.”
The peasants lent willing aid, and Irmy gladly offered the use of a secret room in his house to the wounded officer. There he lay unconscious for three days; but nature finally triumphed, and his progress toward recovery was rapid, thanks to Walter, Irmy’s son, who tended him with the greatest care.
“It does not please me,” said the father one day, “that you should sit the whole day at that foreign soldier’s bedside; such service could be performed quite as well by the servants.”
“But, father,” cried Walter, “he is such a fine fellow and can tell such splendid tales of war and the battles he has fought in. It almost makes one long to go away with him.”
“Has the stranger suggested that to you?” asked Irmy.
“No, not he,” was the answer; “but Iseli, your friend, is always saying that I might make a great success if I were to go out into the world; he seems to think there is something unusual about me.”
“Iseli is a fool,” growled the old man, “to put such ideas into your head. Stay in your own country and earn an honest living, that is my advice; and if you must be a soldier, no doubt there will be opportunities enough for you to begin your career in the service of the Fatherland, instead of entering that of any foreign prince.”