with everybody. The dance at the Harmony Club has been called off, I have nothing to do, and when I come here"—he again looked round as if the place were a desert—"there is nobody to be seen. Except, of course, the informer!" he shouted from the steps.
"My word of honour, Major …" said Diederich, running after him, "it was not I who lodged the complaint; it is all a misunderstanding." But the major had already reached the street. "At least, I rely upon your discretion!" cried Diederich after him. He wiped his forehead. "Herr Grützmacher," he said tearfully, "you at least will admit …" As he ordered wine, the proprietor admitted everything.
Diederich drank and shook his head mournfully. He could not understand this miscalculation. His intentions had been pure, only the wiles of his enemies had obscured them. … Then Judge Fritzsche turned up, and looked round hesitatingly. When he saw that Diederich was really quite alone, he came up to him. "Dr. Hessling!" he said as he shook hands "you look as if you had just buried your best friend." Diederich murmured that there was always a lot of trouble in a big business. But he opened his heart fully when he saw the other's sympathetic expression.
"I don't mind telling you, Judge, this business with Herr Lauer is damnably unpleasant for me."
"Still more so for him," said Fritzsche severely. "If it were not that he is above suspicion of flight, we should have had to arrest him to-day." He saw Diederich blanch and added: "And that would have been painful even to us judges. After all, we are all human and it takes all sorts to make a world But of course—" He steadied his pince-nez and assumed a wooden expression. "The law must be obeyed. If on that evening—I myself had already left—Lauer actually did use those unprecedented expressions concerning His Majesty, as stated by the prosecution, and as to which you are chief witness—"
