"But need it all be done in our house?" asked Gretchen, in a very ungracious tone.
"The duty of my office requires it!" said the Assessor, with dignity. "First of all, the entrance must be secured, to prevent any possible attempt at flight. I shall lock the hall door." So saying, he turned the key in the lock and drew it out.
"What are you thinking of?" protested Gretchen. "Papa won't be able to get in when he comes back."
"We shall post the maid at the door, and give her the key," whispered the little gentleman, who by this time was in a fever of official zeal. "She will open when Herr Frank comes, and at the same time call in the men to guard the door. Who knows whether the delinquents will surrender easily?"
"But how do you know they are delinquents at all? Suppose you were to make a mistake?"
"Fräulein Margaret, you have not the eye of a detective," declared the Assessor, with conscious superiority. "I am a good physiognomist, and I tell you I never yet saw two faces on which 'conspirator' was stamped more legibly, more unmistakably. I am not to be deceived, however pure their German may be. For the present, I will merely subject them to an interrogation, until Herr Frank arrives. It is dangerous, no doubt, to let such men get an inkling that they are found out--extremely dangerous, particularly when one is alone with them; but duty demands it!"
"I will go with you," said Gretchen, valiantly.
"Thank you," said the Assessor, as solemnly as though the girl had resolved on going to the scaffold with him. "Thank you. Now let us act."
He called the maid, gave her the required instructions, and then returned to the parlour, Gretchen following him. She was naturally courageous, and felt quite as much curiosity as uneasiness about the issue. The two strangers had evidently not the smallest notion of the storm about to burst over their heads. They imagined themselves in perfect security. The younger of the two, who was a remarkably tall man, towering more than a head above his companion, was pacing the room with folded arms, while the elder, a person of slight build, with pale but agreeable features, had obediently taken the place offered him, and was sitting harmlessly enough in the armchair.
The Assessor assumed an air of authority. Convinced of the importance of the moment, and conscious that the eyes of his beloved were upon him, he rose to the measure of his task. He looked the judicial mind personified, as he stepped up to the two 'individuals.'