r gesticulation. The rear of the train was
closed by two horsemen, dressed exactly alike and mounted on horses of
the same color, in whom Edwin already recognized the brothers Thaddaeus
and Matthaeus von der Wende. They seemed, as usual, to be perfectly
silent, but hung their heads sorrowfully, and in their wonderful
resemblance to each other looked still more comical on horseback than
on foot.

When the caravan had approached still nearer, Edwin saw that the
shapeless struggling mass, under which the bearers gasped, was his
neighbor of the preceding night, the fat landed-proprietor. The jovial
gentleman who, in spite of a wide bandage around his left foot, was in
excellent spirits and from time to time broke the deep silence of the
forest with his roars of laughter, now turned on his couch, recognized
the pedestrian and calling him by name, nodded kindly and beckoned him
to approach. The bearers were very glad to set down the litter while
Edwin listened to the story of the accident, which the stout gentleman
related with much humor. He had taken his position under a large beech
on the edge of an opening in the forest. The twin brothers, who even in
hunting were inseparables, had posted themselves on the opposite side.
As the wounded stag, with a sudden turn dashed through the glade, two
shots suddenly echoed from that other side; the brothers, who in their
zeal for the chase had failed to remember the position of their fellow
huntsman, hit him instead of the stag. Whether he owed the bullet in
his leg to Matthaeus or Thaddaeus would remain undecided till the day of
judgment. As faithful twins, they had both taken deeply to heart the
Christian blood that had been spilled, and he was now vainly
endeavoring to console them for an accident which was really not worth
mentioning. "The only person who's a gainer by the affair is yourself,
Herr Doctor," he concluded with a pleasant laugh. "You'll be shown to
another room in the castle, where you'll be no farther molested by my
nightly snores, for the physician-in-ordinary will need to watch lest
fever should set in, and will meantime take up his quarters in your
room. But such a tough old skin as mine is not so sensitive, that one
need make any special fuss about a little hole in the leg. If it should
grow worse, I'll call you to my assistance, honored sir. You deal, I
hear, in philosophy; that must be good medicine for a man when he's
obliged to lie still, and is fairly besid