"'Tut, tut tut, Herr Doktor, will you be answerable for the consequences?'
"With these words they left the rabbi, laughing, and Haberstroh was not shot to death. After a few days it turned out that he had been arrested on the spiteful charge of a business rival. Dr. Merzbach had gathered the proofs and handed them over to the Rittmeister. He himself had gone to Oswiecin for this purpose. That's the way he always threw himself into affairs, and helped with all his energy."
I was just about to put a question to Simon Eichelkatz about the spy, when he suddenly said:
"Do you believe, Herr Kreisphysikus, that to be good and noble and help your fellow-beings is happiness?"
"Have you ever read anything by Goethe or heard of him?" I returned, evading the question.
"No, Herr Doktor, I never read anything by him, but I've heard of him."
"Goethe says: 'Let man be noble, helpful, and good.' Do you suppose by these words he wanted to show men the road to happiness, Herr Eichelkatz?"
"Who can tell?"
November 11.
A clear winter has at last come after the foggy days of autumn. It has been snowing for several days, and in the morning Jack Frost draws crystal flowers on the window panes.