"If I were an ass! I was drunk at the time I made the bargain, and therefore am bound to nothing."
"Rasselwitz will show you that, my fine fellow! You have had his horse, and must keep your word."
"He may fetch his mare, then, from the hangman. The beast fell down with me at the Bresslauer gate. I should deserve to be breeched if I suffered myself to be cheated in this manner."
"You'll have a stout tussle of it with him. In such matters he does not jest, and least of all with you."
"Let him come, then, and fight it out with me. I have already shown the Turks in Hungary that I am not afraid. When I have got my cold iron at my side, I am a match for a whole stable-full of such younkers."
And with this he emptied the last goblet and drained it, while Netz bit his lips, and drawing Bieler aside, asked in a whisper, "If they should not throw the braggart out of window?" To this the other replied by a friendly nod of assent; but Althea, who had overheard the question, exclaimed, "For God's sake do not trouble the quiet of this widowed house!"
"And think, besides," said the old Schindel, warningly, "that you are at Schweidnitz, in his father's jurisdiction." At the same time he went up to Francis, and observed, "I have yet a visit to make to the old doctor Heidenreich, who has removed, and I do not know his present quarters. Will you have the kindness, cousin Friend, to show me the way thither?"
"Why not?" said Francis, seizing his cap; "though I well know whence the request comes. You want me away, that I may not get into a row with these nobles here. Isn't it so? Ay, ay, Frank may be a wild companion, but he is no fool. Well, you are a good old gentleman, and for this time I'll comply with your wishes. Good morning, lady Althea."
He went with the old Schindel to the door, and then turned back again--"What I have said of Rasselwitz you may boldly repeat to him; I stand to my words."
The two went away together. Netz looked indignantly after Francis, and exclaimed, "That such a fellow should give himself so many airs, merely because he is rich and his father is a burgomaster!"