u had no right to sell it; it is the roof of my house. A few trees
can perhaps be cut down, but not the whole forest. That has been the
agreement for a hundred years. My grandfather has often told me so."

"It is none of my business. I have other things to attend to now."

"Good Heavens!" cried Lenz, with tears, "what have you done? You have
robbed me of the dearest possession I had in the world."

"Indeed! Is money everything? I did not know that your heart, too, was
in your breeches pocket."

"No, no! not that. You have robbed me of my second parents."

"I should think you were big enough to stand alone. But you are that
sort of fellow that when he is a grandfather will cry out for his
mother, 'Mamma! mamma! your little boy is hurt!' You said once you were
a man, but what a man! One that can establish a union in which all
shall stand by each other like the trees in a forest,--a forest of
miserable clockmakers! Ha, ha! Go on with your union, then, that shall
take care of yourself and the rest of your set." This malice was a new
feature of the landlord's character.

Lenz was the only one of his creditors that placed himself in the
breach, and upon his head broke the full force of the ruined man's
fury.

Lenz grew red and pale by turns; his lips trembled. "Father-in-law," he
said, "you are the grandfather of my children. You know how much you
have robbed them of. I would not have your conscience. But the wood
must not be cut down. I shall go to law about it."

"Very well; do as you like," returned the landlord as he poured out his
coffee. Lenz could stay in the room no longer.

On the stone bench before the inn sat Proebler, a wretched object,
forcing every passer-by to hear his story. He was waiting, he said, for
the arrival of the officers, because his best work, containing all his
inventions, had been pledged to the landlord, and was now in the house.
It must not be sold, and sent out into the world for every one to copy
and cheat him out of his profits. The officers must get him a patent
from government which should make him a rich and famous man. Lenz used
all his influence to pacify the poor old fellow, assuring him that he
was the only one whom the landlord had treated honestly; that he had
already received the full value of his works, all of which were utterly
unsalable and still on his patron's hands; that they had not been
pawned at all, but sold outright. Proebler, however, was neither to be
reasoned