Leonard!

LEONARD.

Child! child! You be as innocent as a dove, and I will be as wise as a
serpent. Then, since a man and his wife are one, we shall entirely
satisfy the demand of the Gospel.

[_Laughs_.]

Neither was it altogether an accident that young Hermann was drunk at
the most important moment of his life. You have surely never heard that
the fellow is given to drinking?

CLARA.

Not a word.

LEONARD.

The fact made the execution of my scheme all the easier. It was done
with three glasses. I had a couple of friends of mine waylay him. "May
one drink to your health?"--"Not now!"--"Oh, that is all arranged, you
know. Your uncle"--"And now, drink, my brother, drink!"--This morning
when I was on my way to you, he stood leaning on the bridge and gazing
dejectedly down at the river. I greeted him sarcastically, and asked him
if he had dropped anything into the water. "Yes," he answered, without
looking up, "and perhaps it would be well for me to jump in after it."