“Nay, I know it hath lain there undisturbed by my hand,” said Gerson Brandt.
“Was it a book of much worth?” inquired Mother Werther.
“Yea, one most precious to me—the Bible that I have been illuminating these many months.”
“The Bible that the stranger coveted?” inquired the overseer, pointing towards Everett, who stood by, listening to the conversation.
The school-master nodded.
It was not five minutes before every one working in the vineyard knew that Gerson Brandt had lost his Bible, and there were some, Everett noticed, among both men and women, who muttered to one another as if they accused the school-master of some sinister design concerning the book the colony claimed. Everett walked up and down among the rows of vines, until he noticed that Adolph Schneider had come to the place where Gerson Brandt had busied himself. He could see that the Herr Doktor spoke emphatically and waved his cane, and that the school-master replied with quiet dignity.
“The Bible that thou wouldst buy hath disappeared in a strange manner,” said Adolph Schneider, addressing Everett. “It will be found in the space of a day or two, for we have no thieves in Zanah. The overseer and I both believe Brother Brandt hath forgotten where he put it, and that he will find it when he maketh a more thorough search.”
There was something like insinuation in his tone, and Gerson Brandt’s face flushed.
“The book hath been taken from my room,” he said. “It is where I cannot find it.”
“Thou speakest as if thou wert brother to the simple one,” said Herr Schneider.