"You are right, Karl; it is out of kindness," interrupted Bräsig.
"I am sure of it, Bräsig, and I am not disposed to be suspicious, but for some time it has lain heavy on my heart that this is a matter which concerns me very nearly. What did you have to do with the business last evening?"
"I, Karl? I only had a rendezvous with the Frau Pastorin, in the water-ditch."
"What did the Herr Pastor have to do with it?"
"Karl, we did not know anything about it, he surprised us."
"What had the Herr von Rambow to do with it?"
"He caught your greyhound by the collar, because I had tumbled into the ditch."
"What had Fritz Triddelsitz to do with the business?" asked Habermann with terrible emphasis. "And what had Louise's hat and shawl to do with it?"
"Only this Karl, that they didn't fit the Frau Pastorin at all well, because she is much too large for them."
"Zachary," said Habermann, reaching his hand over the fence, "these are merely evasions. Will you not tell me,--and we such old friends,--or dare you not tell me?"