The "instrument" gave me a great deal of trouble, filling, as it did, seven of the largest skins of parchment, constituting fourteen sheets. It contained more matter than a quire of paper. There was no room to affix my signature and the signum notariatus at the end of the deed, according to custom, so I made an impression in wax of my seal engraved on lead, and suspended it from the string holding the sheets together. His Highness, without asking, gave me a fee of thirty crowns.
Magister Joachim Moritz, professor juris at Greifswald and ducal counsellor, had never been to Stralsund, and knew nobody there. At my return from Bergen he asked me to "put him up" at my father's, which I was very glad to do. Having risen early to see the city, he went shortly after seven into St. Nicholas' to hear the sermon. Zabel Lorbeer, who caught sight of him, mistook him for his former boon companion, George Steinkeller. The likeness between these two seems to have been so striking as to have deceived people generally. Many a gentleman upon beholding Moritz on the bench at Wolgast, said to his neighbour, "And where the devil did Steinkeller get his knowledge of the law from, to constitute him a judge?" Lorbeer, then, coming from behind, takes Moritz by the ears and shakes him for full a minute, the professor, altogether nonplussed, asking himself all the while who it could be giving him such an energetic welcome. He made sure it was me. Finally, he managed to turn round, and Lorbeer, perceiving his mistake, was most profuse with apologies. Moritz was fond of relating the adventure, especially in the hearing of the Stralsunders, and no one enjoyed the story more than the duke.
The Stralsund council took the opportunity of my visit (which happened during the very week of Burgomaster Lorbeer's funeral), to offer me the position of secretary. My surprise may easily be imagined. I considered myself so compromised in the eyes of the Stralsunders that, without the company of the governor of Cammin and the commission I held of the prince, I should not have deemed myself safe in the city. Those overtures, though, caused me as much pleasure as they did to my kindred; nevertheless, I felt bound not to give a definite answer until I was relieved of my engagement at Greifswald, although I had not taken the oath. Being anxious to hasten my return, the Stralsund council sent me a messenger to Greifswald with a saddle-horse.
I pointed out to my friends and to the magistrates at Greifswald that, although I had to a certain extent begun my functions, there had as yet been no positive agreement; not a syllable had been uttered, for instance, about salary. Why then should I decline the important Stralsund appointment? My uncle and godfather, Burgomaster Bertram Smiterlow, summoned the council to the chancellerie, and a fixed salary of eighty florins was allotted to me. Never had a secretary been so well paid. I asked to let the matter stand over till the next morning, so that I might consult with my family. My wife's relatives implored me to accept; my father-in-law, a centenarian, promised me, with tears in his eyes, a hundred florins if I stayed. At the instance of all these, I declared myself ready to receive the luck-penny (the earnest-money) commensurate with the dignity of the office and of the council, it being, furthermore, understood that I should be allowed to remain at the chancellerie and not be elected to the council. The camerarii counted me out eight crowns as earnest-money, and my predecessor, Johannes Schoenefeld, sent me word to engross my own act of appointment. More than one precedent justified me in expecting about a year's salary as earnest-money, but after some hesitation I took the eight crowns.
My father-in-law was anxiously waiting for the result of the interview. I flung the money on the table. "Just look, father," I exclaimed, "did I not sell myself at my worth? You had better get your hundred florins ready." But he had apparently recovered from his first depression, and seemed not at all touched by my obvious sacrifice, for he said tetchily, "If it suits you to go, very well, go; but you'll not have one florin as far as I am concerned." I felt hurt, although I fully intended to refuse the hundred florins, lest my brother-in-law should look askance at me.
I put the Stralsund horse up in Burgomaster Smiterlow's stable, my own not being ready. My first impulse was to send it back the same day. Then I began to reflect that it would be better to draw up my "act of appointment"; after that, the letter to the Stralsund council would not take long. In drawing up the act, I could, however, not help noticing that neither the period nor the place of payment was stated, and next morning I went to ask Schoenefeld about all this. He told me that I should receive two florins one day from this person, and half a florin the next from another, so that at the end of the year the eighty florins would be complete. I certainly did congratulate myself for having kept a back door open, for the misunderstanding was very serious, casual instalments and fixed appointments being by no means the same thing. After leaving Schoenefeld, I ran against Burgomaster Smiterlow and the camerarii in the market-place, and told them that if Schoenefeld's version was true, I preferred returning the wretched earnest-money. "Your conduct will surprise them," they replied. "To summon the council at such a short notice is no more possible than to take back the earnest-money without its leave." I, on the other hand, maintained that it was yet time to arrange affairs. "Should I be deserving of the magistrates' confidence if I were so incapable of conducting my own affairs? I am going to the burgomaster at once to deposit the earnest-money on his daughter's table. She'll know right enough to whom to hand it. After which I shall get into the saddle and take the road to Stralsund." Thereupon the council was summoned.
I went to tell my wife, her brother, and my sister whom he had married. My wife, not satisfied with shedding tears, declared categorically that she should not leave Greifswald. She would take a room somewhere and earn her living knitting. My sister and her husband were also much excited. "What shall you do with your nice house?" said my sister. "Why vex our parents? Stop here out of consideration for them; here where there are so many opportunities of being useful to them." An old aunt, a sensible, upright and honest matron whom my wife had called to her aid was the only one to express a contrary opinion. "Dear nephew," she said, "though I should be too pleased to keep you near me, for after God you are the prop of my old age, I'm bound to admit that there is no comparison between the post of Greifswald and that of Stralsund. If I placed an obstacle to your stroke of good fortune, my conscience would reproach me afterwards, so take my advice and carry out your plan. Do you remember how your wife mourned her mother? Does she still cry at the mention of her name? Well, she'll get just as used to living at Stralsund." My wife's tears flowed all the faster at these words.
The messenger from Stralsund went to saddle my horse. Booted and spurred I joined him almost immediately, and had the animal brought round to Burgomaster Smiterlow's door where, somewhat impatiently, I awaited on the steps his return from the Town Hall. He told me that no secretary in the past had received the appointments allotted to me, and that no secretary in the future was likely to receive them, and yet I had still found better; hence the council felt most reluctant to hamper my career and sent their best wishes for my welfare. I immediately got into the saddle and left the town, avoiding our house, on the threshold of which I could see my wife standing surrounded by her kindred. It was on November 29, 1555. My residence at Greifswald dated from January 1, 1551. During that period my earnings amounted to five thousand three hundred florins, exclusive of presents in kind, which often exceeded the strictly necessary. Here ends the third part of the story of my life.