tlemen were gazing at the oleander tree whence, before any one
approached it, a groan of pain was heard.

The experienced physician shook his white locks gravely and said:

"Whoever uttered that is near the end of his sufferings."

He made a movement to rise as he spoke; he felt that his help was
needed.

But another incident diverted the attention of his companions and
himself.

CHAPTER XI.

Dietel, the waiter, had at last been released from his confinement in
the cellar, and instantly began the search for the thief in the garden
with twofold zeal.

Without considering how long a time had passed since he first tried
to bring the culprit into the clutches of the law, he had resumed the
pursuit where it was interrupted. As a thoughtless child whose bird has
flown from the cage looks into the water jug to find it, he had turned
the light of his lantern upon places where a kitten could not have
hidden itself, and had even been to the meadow on the bank of the Main
to seek Kuni with the widow of the thief Nickel; but here the sacrament
was just being given to the sufferer, and to interrupt such a ceremony
would have been a great crime. His eyes were keen, and the red pinks had
gleamed from the straw on which the dying woman lay in the light of the
lantern, whose long pole the sexton had thrust into the soft earth of
the meadow. Those flowers must have come from the garden of the landlady
of The Pike, and she valued her pinks more than anything else. The
ropedancer had gathered them for the sick woman, and certainly had not
stopped at that one act of theft. How far these vagabonds' impudence
went! But he, whose duty it was to look after the property of The Blue
Pike, would spoil their pleasure in thieving.

The dog Phylax had soon put him on the trail, and before any of the
gentlemen could reach the groaning person Dietel's triumphant shout rang
from behind the oleander:

"Now we've caught the pilferer, and we'll make an example of her!"

His first glance had fallen on the little bunch of pinks in the girl's
hand, and the vein on his forehead swelled with wrath at this damage to
his mistress's favourite flowers.

But when he shook the culprit by the shoulder and, to his surprise, met
with no resistance, he threw the light of the lantern upon her face, and
what he saw there suddenly troubled him, for the girl's lips, chin, and
dress were covered with bright blood, and her head drooped on one side
as if it