"So it seems. But let us go back a few steps. You had the impression throughout, that Brandow was driving you from the house. Did not that seem strange?"
"No and yes."
"We will suppose that the no refers to your relations with Brandow, and the yes to the Assessor's, whose favor he certainly had the most urgent motives to keep. I confess it is incomprehensible to me. And on such a night too--as King Lear says, 'In storm and rain and darkness'--to drive you out of the house and give you a carriage with no lamps to convey you over such notoriously bad roads."
"All that is true," said Gotthold in an embarrassed tone; "but recurring to Brandow's unfriendliness--which, moreover, he instantly regretted, and tried to make amends for the same evening--will scarcely help us to the recovery of the money."
"You see what an unskilful inquisitor I am," replied Wollnow, passing his hand over his brow. "Let us leave the master, and without regard for the old adage, turn to the man. Was he not the same one who drove you out in the morning?"
"The same. Brandow's trainer, and as you see, occasional coachman, steward also, in a word, factotum."
"Factotum, very good," said Wollnow. "A do-everything, in contrast to always doing right, for this Signer Do-everything seems to fear nothing and no one, at least that was the impression he made upon me. What do you think of the man?"
"That he is a remarkable fellow, so far as this, that any one who had seen him once would hardly forget him. I remember him perfectly from the time I first knew him, years ago, till now: the square flat head, and low retreating forehead of the large animals of the cat tribe, to which his green squinting eyes also bear a resemblance, while his broad shoulders, short, thick-set figure, and clumsy bow legs are more like the dog tribe--a cross between the terrier and bull-dog, whose tenacity and faithfulness he also possesses. I believe he would go through fire and water for his master."
"And water," said Wollnow. "What wonderful eyes you artists have! How dear that description is! And now we have this estimable monster, this faithful Caliban, on the front seat of the carriage, driving through the darkness. What about the ride?"
"I have frankly confessed that, until just before the accident, I noticed little or nothing of what was passing around me. But I remember now that we ascended the hill with difficulty, probably because the wind was directly against us, and Hinrich Scheel, with his usual cruelty, violently lashed the poor horses, which seemed to have a presentiment of their fate, and would not move from the spot until Hinrich at last jumped out of the carriage."