Mittwalden delegates spoke up for fifteen thousand. Fifteen
thousand, all brigaded, and each man with a medal round his neck to
rally by. That's all Gondremark.'

'Ay, sir, you see what it leads to; wild talk to-day, and wilder
doings to-morrow,' said the old man. 'For there is one thing
certain: that this Gondremark has one foot in the Court backstairs,
and the other in the Masons' lodges. He gives himself out, sir, for
what nowadays they call a patriot: a man from East Prussia!'

'Give himself out!' cried Fritz. 'He is! He is to lay by his title
as soon as the Republic is declared; I heard it in a speech.'

'Lay by Baron to take up President?' returned Killian. 'King Log,
King Stork. But you'll live longer than I, and you will see the
fruits of it.'

'Father,' whispered Ottilia, pulling at the speaker's coat, 'surely
the gentleman is ill.'

'I beg your pardon,' cried the farmer, rewaking to hospitable
thoughts; 'can I offer you anything?'

'I thank you. I am very weary,' answered Otto. 'I have presumed
upon my strength. If you would show me to a bed, I should be
grateful.'

'Ottilia, a candle!' said the old man. 'Indeed, sir, you look
paley. A little cordial water? No? Then follow me, I beseech you,
and I will bring you to the stranger's bed. You are not the first