sweet sound of his snores, for your Honor must know that this huntsman
pursues his game while comfortably snoring in the grass."

"What do you say, clown?"

"And then I can call as a witness the very man whom you intend to use
against me, and finally I think that the justice will smile a little
when I tell him that Mr. Fabian H---- was willing to forget all harsh
measures for a kiss from Magde."

"Ha! ha! ha!" exclaimed Mr. Fabian, with a forced laugh, with which he
attempted to conceal his uneasiness, "you are a waggish rogue! Your last
words have afforded me so much amusement that I have not the heart to
injure you for such a trifle. But listen, you little simpleton; you must
not suppose that the justice would allow you to say all that. No, he
would have sent you away long before you could have had time to utter a
word about it."

Carl made no further reply than by applying his thumb to his nasal
organ; and gyrating his fingers in a manner so significant that we will
not endeavor to interpret his meaning. Having executed this manoeuver,
he hastily left the room, but remained at such a distance that he could
keep a watchful eye through the open door upon the unwelcome guest.

Mr. Fabian, who did not wish to appear vanquished, was at a loss how to
change the conversation to such a theme as would afford him a suitable
opportunity to take his leave in a dignified manner. But good Magde, who
had now entirely recovered her usual equanimity, soon assisted him--by
means of that instinct which sometimes puts superior knowledge to the
blush--out of his dilemma by saying: