"My dear patron, Herr von Lohm, who by some incomprehensible and appalling mistake——"
"You must go to the judge who conducted the preliminary inquiries."
"But who is he, and where is he to be found?"
The official looked at his watch. "If you hurry you may still find him at the Law Courts. In the next street. Examining Judge Schultz."
And the door was shut.
So they went to the Law Courts, and hurried up and down staircases and along endless corridors, vainly looking for someone to direct them to Examining Judge Schultz. The building was empty; they did not meet a soul, and they went down one passage after the other, anguish in Anna's heart, and misery hardly less acute in Manske's. At last they heard distant voices echoing through the emptiness. They followed the sound, and found two women cleaning.
"Can you direct me to the room of the Examining Judge Schultz?" asked Manske, bowing politely.
"The gentlemen have all gone home. Business hours are over," was the answer. Could they perhaps give his private address? No, they could not; perhaps the porter knew. Where was the porter? Somewhere about.
They hurried downstairs again in search of the porter. Another ten minutes was wasted looking for him. They saw him at last through the glass of the entrance door, airing himself on the steps.
The porter gave them the address, and they lost some more minutes trying to find their Droschke, for they had come out at a different entrance to the one they had gone in by. By this time Manske was speechless, and Anna was half dead.