"Before her was light, and behind her darkness," exclaimed Raschke.
He talked of Ilse, and now thought of the commission which his children had given to their aunt.
Thus the afternoon passed. Werner again sat brooding in his room, when Gabriel announced the arrival of the Magister. Before Raschke hastened into the next room, he once more pressed the hand of the other, and, looking imploringly at him, said:
"Be calm, friend."
"I am calm," replied he.
Magister Knips had profited by the refining influence of the Court. His black suit had been made by a tailor who had the princely coat of arms above his workshop; his hair was free from feathers, and his vocabulary had been replenished with new expressions of respect. He now looked furtively and defiantly around him.
Werner measured the man as he entered with a steady look; if, before, he had had a doubt of the guilt of the Magister, he now recognized it. He turned away for a moment in order to struggle with his aversion.
"Examine this," he said, pointing with his finger to the parchment leaves.
Knips took a leaf in his hand, and the parchment trembled as he cast a shy glance upon it.
"It is another forgery," said the Professor; "the reading of the first Florentine manuscript, and even the peculiarities of its orthography, are copied with a careful accuracy which would have been impossible to any old transcriber. The writing, too, betrays itself to be recent."