gnificent boasts, and so honored the world with her
patronage! The landlord, at least, had only lied by his silence and his
quiet acceptance of the titles of man of honor and such like that were
showered on him from every side.

Many creditors were undeterred by the long walk from visiting Lenz on
the Morgenhalde. They had come as far as the village, and had a right
to see the whole extent of the disaster. There was a blending of
compassion with comfort at the sight of misfortune greater than their
own, in the condolences they expressed. Many tried to console him with
hopes of inheriting from his uncle, and promised they would make no
claims upon him when he should come into his fortune. Wherever Lenz
appeared he was compassionated for the baseness of his father-in-law in
thus robbing his own son. Only one man had a good word for the
landlord, and that was Pilgrim, who quite won Annele's heart by
asserting at Lenz's house, in all sincerity, that her father had not
meant to be dishonest, but had only been out in his calculations, and
unfortunately risked his all in that unlucky Brazilian suit. A report
was circulated that the landlady was having everything that could be
smuggled out of sight carried up to the Morgenhalde. One poor
clockmaker came to Lenz and promised to betray nothing if he might but
have restored to him what was rightfully his. Lenz called in his wife
and declared he would never forgive her if she had received into the
house a farthing's worth of goods that did not belong to her. Upon the
head of her child she swore she never had and never would. Lenz took
her hand from the child's head; he would have no oaths.

Annele had said truly that there were no forfeited goods at the
Morgenhalde. The landlady was often at the house, but Lenz held little
communication with her. Well it was for her that Franzl was no longer
there; for the new maid, a near relation of Annele's, made frequent
journeys in the night between the Lion and the neighboring village,
carrying heavy baskets full of things to be exchanged by Ernestine for
money. Her husband, the shopkeeper, was the only one of the landlord's
dependants who had not suffered. The clockmakers, instead of receiving
ready money, had had the privilege of taking various stores from his
shop on the landlord's security. The poor fellows found themselves now
with no clocks and deep in debt. The shopkeeper told them frankly that
they were better able to pay than the ma