“I was enraged to see him looking at me from top to toe. The most frightful part of it was, that Luisa was looking on. I took a drink and said to him:
“‘Look here, German, what business have you to speak rudely to me? Let us be better acquainted. I have come to see you as friends.’
“‘I cannot be your friend,’ he replied. ‘You are a private soldier.’
“Then I lost all self-command.
“‘Oh, you German! You sausage-seller! You know how much you are in my power. Look here; do you wish me to break your head with this pistol?’
“I drew out my pistol, got up, and struck him on the forehead. The women were more dead than alive; they were afraid to breathe. The eldest of the two men, quite white, was trembling like a leaf.
“The German seemed much astonished. But he soon recovered himself.
“‘I am not afraid of you,’ he said, ‘and I beg of you, as a well-bred man, to put an end to this pleasantry. I am not afraid of you!’
“‘You are afraid! You dare not move while this pistol is presented at you.’
“‘You dare not do such a thing!’ he cried.