"Bon! And will you mention one of the thousand proofs?"
"Well, I should think to-night had given proof enough. First, she lets him take her to table; then she coquets with him in the most impudent manner----"
"Stop! Who told you all that?"
"Young Grieben."
"Then tell young Grieben that he might employ his sparrow-brains for a better purpose than to invent such foolish stories, and to report them to you. I sat nearer than he, and I am sure I observe as well as he, and I tell you that your wife and Cloten have behaved just as well at table, as,--well, as you can expect from a nobleman and a lady. And then, please consider that the whole arrangement was only a notion, and, as I now see, a bad notion of mine."
"I can rely upon that, Oldenburg?"
"I generally mean what I say."
"But it is nevertheless true," screamed Barnewitz.
"My dear friend, I have no opinion about that, and you would oblige me very much indeed if you would leave me out of the matter entirely. But if you want my friendly advice, I am quite at your service."
"What ought I to do?"