“What may that be?” Johannes asked.
“Three of them dipped their fingers in the rosin, didn’t they? Now suppose to-morrow morning they find two, or even all of them with burnt fingers?”
“Oh, holy simplicity!” Johannes burst out. “Well this is rich! All three, ha, ha, ha! That would prove trying to the wisdom of King Solomon. Ha, ha, ha!” and Johannes laughed heartily.
“What are you laughing at?” the Walloon asked angrily. “I cannot make it out. Three men have dipped their fingers in that molten rosin; now what could be more natural than to find the whole three of them burnt? But at all events tell us the cause of your laughter; perhaps we may join you.”
“You are a donkey.”
“I have been told that before, I know, but is that what you are laughing at?”
“Oh, you stupid! Did you not hear the shrieks uttered by number three of the accused?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Well, he alone burnt his finger and nobody else. But I had better explain it to you. The first two are well-to-do young men [[235]]who only had to interchange a look with the judges in order to be taken for innocence personified. Possibly the judges had received their fee beforehand; if not they are quite certain to get it. The third was a poor lad from whom nothing was to be expected. He had no significant looks to interchange.”
“I would understand all this were it not that with my own eyes I saw their three fingers move up and down in the molten rosin; I looked most attentively.”