"Ach! lieber freund," replied Ludwig. "It is all very well for you rich milords who have 'löwen'[6] to talk in that style, but we 'armer teufeln' are bound to take even that into consideration."
"This is what the world makes of noble fellows when it has once got them in its grasp!" sighed my ancestor to himself, and he hastened to change the conversation.
They then discoursed on various other topics, sitting up to a late hour of night, until wearied with incessant talking, each retired to rest.
Early the next morning both were dressed and ready to start on their journey. They reached ——dorf towards evening, and having fixed their quarters at the very same inn they had put up at on their memorable tour, they beguiled the time until the morrow by discoursing with the townspeople about the mysterious murder.
The body, it seems, was not yet underground, but was to be buried the next day. They accordingly both resolved to examine it.
"The head has not been found yet?" asked Ludwig after supper of the landlord of the inn, who had come in for a gossip.
"No, sir, not yet," replied their host. "Ah, there are some strange rumours in the town about that same murder."
"Indeed!" cried Fritz; "what do the people say?"
"Some say one thing, and some another, but all seem to agree that there is something supernatural about the murder of the Henker."
"Something supernatural! Why—what reason have they to jump at that conclusion?"