e dogs being sent to be strangled, and the sergeant to
prison for four weeks. This trifle amused us the whole evening; the next
day the story spread abroad that the Master of the Hunt had taken up the
case of my little dog, and I even know for a fact that the Emperor himself
laughed over it."

Laughter arose in both rooms. The Judge and the Bernardine were playing at
marriage; spades were trumps, and the Judge was just about to make an
important play. The Monk could hardly breathe for excitement, when the
Judge caught the beginning of the story, and was so interested in it that
with head thrown back and card uplifted, ready to take the trick, he sat
quiet and only alarmed the Bernardine, until, when the story was ended, he
played his knave, and said with a laugh:--

"Let whoever will praise the civilisation of the Germans, or the strict
discipline of the Muscovites; let the men of Great Poland46 learn from the
Suabians to go to law over a fox, and summon constables to arrest a hound
that has ventured into another man's grove; in Lithuania, thank the Lord,
we keep up the old ways: we have enough game for ourselves and for our
neighbours, and shall never complain to the police about it; and we have
enough grain, so that the dogs will not famish us by running through the
spring wheat or the rye; on the peasants' fields alone do I forbid
hunting."

"It is no wonder, sir," called the Steward from the room at the left,
"since you pay dear for such game. The peasants are glad of the chance;
when a dog runs into their wheat, if he shakes out ten ears, then you
repay three score and are not content even with that; often the boors get
a thaler into the bargain. Believe me, sir, that the peasants will grow
very insolent, if----"

The rest of the Steward's argument the Judge could not hear, for between
the two discourses there had begun a dozen conversations, jests, stories,
and even disputes.

Thaddeus and Telimena had been forgotten by all the rest of the company,
and were absorbed in each other.--The lady was glad that her wit had amused
Thaddeus so greatly; in return, the young man showered compliments on her.
Telimena spoke more and more slowly and softly, and Thaddeus pretended
that he could not hear her in the buzz of voices; so, whispering, he drew
so near her that he felt on his face the pleasant warmth of her brow;
holding his breath, he caught her sighs with his lips, and with his eye he
followed every sparkle of he