and
ever shows a courteous disposition to spare the feelings of those whom
he would lead into sin. No: the temptation that he suggested was the
subtle and ingenious one that Gottlieb should proceed to recover his
own stolen property! His logic was admirable: Hans had been Gottlieb's
assistant; and as such Gottlieb had owned him and his recipe as well.
When Hans went away and took the recipe with him, he took that which
still belonged to his master. Therefore, triumphantly argued the devil,
Gottlieb had a perfect right to regain the recipe either by fair means
or by foul. And finally, as a bit of supplementary devil-logic, the
thought was suggested that inasmuch as Hans certainly must know the
recipe by heart, the mere loss of the paper on which it was written
would not be any real loss to him at all! It is only fair to Gottlieb's
good angel to state that during this able presentment of the wrong
side of the case he did venture to hint once or twice--in the feeble,
perfunctory sort of way that unfortunately seems to be characteristic of
good angels when their services really are most urgently required--that
the whole matter might be compromised satisfactorily to all the parties
in interest by permitting Hans to marry Minna, and by then taking him
into partnership in the bakery. And it is only just to Gottlieb to state
that to these fainthearted suggestions of his good angel he did not give
one moment's heed.

Now the devil is a thorough-going sort of a person, and having planted
the evil wish in Gottlieb's soul he lost no time in opening to him an
evil way to its accomplishment. When Hans, a stranger in New York, had
come to work at the Cafe Nuernberg, Gottlieb had commended him to
the good graces of a friend of his, a highly respectable little round
Brunswicker widow who let lodgings, and in the comfortable quarters thus
provided for him Hans ever since had remained. In this same house lodged
also one of Gottlieb's apprentices--a loose young fellow, for whose
proper regulation the widow more than once had been compelled to seek
his master's counsel and aid. In this combination of circumstances,
to which the devil now directed his attention, Gottlieb saw his
opportunity. It was easy to make the widow believe that the loose young
apprentice had taken the short step from looseness to crime, and that
a suspicion of theft rested upon him so heavily as to justify the
searching of his room; it was easy to make the widow keep g