The Frau Amtshauptmann went up anxiously to my mother. Mamsell Westphalen sat upright and stiffly in her chair and said--"If you will let me say so, Herr Amtshauptmann, he is a clown."
"Herr Amtshauptmann, Herr Amtshauptmann," said Luth letting himself be shaken; "you may believe me; Fritz Sahlmann saw it all and told me about it."
"Fritz Sahlmann? My Fritz Sahlmann?" asked the old Herr, and let Luth go.
"It looks like our Fritz Sahlmann, Herr Amtshauptmann," said Mamsell Westphalen, quietly; "Fritz Sahlmann and truth are as far asunder as the cuckoo and the Seven Stars."
"Where is the boy?" asked the Amtshauptmann.
"He is standing outside in the Hall," said Luth.
The old Herr strode with long steps to the door and called out,--"Fritz, Fritz Sahlmann, come in here."
Fritz Sahlmann came. Two forces were struggling in his breast, the desire to recount his valorous deeds and the fear of a sound rating on account of his appearance; the one drew him forward and the other held him back; and, at the same time perhaps, one pulled him to the left, and the other to the right, for he came in at the door askew, with his good side first. But he had reckoned without his host, for he had not taken into account that coming in, in this way, his natural centre of gravity, on which he had sat down in the mud, would at once catch the eyes of the Frau Amtshauptmann and Mamsell Westphalen.
"Fritz Sahlmann," asked the old Herr, "what is the meaning of all this?"
Fritz Sahlmann who had marched in with a sort of pride, now let his head drop and looked down at his clothes: