provement of the people. … That's what I've got!" said Diederich out loud in the empty street. "Even if the heavens fall!" Nature had attempted to upset authority with inadequate means. Diederich called upon Heaven to observe his osder of William and said, "Sold again!" Whereupon he pinned it on, beside the order of the Crown, fourth class.
In the Fleischhauergrube several carriages had stopped, curiously enough, in front of old Buck's house. One of them, moreover, was a country cart. Was he by any chance …? Diederich peered into the house. The glass door stood open, strange to say, as if some one were expected who did not often come. A religious quiet prevailed in the wide hall; it was only when he crept past the kitchen that he heard sobbing: the old servant, with her face resting on her arms. "So things are as bad as that!"—Diederich suddenly shuddered and stopped, ready to retreat. "This is no place for me. … Yet, my place is here, for everything here is mine, and it is my duty to see that they do not take anything away afterwards." But this was not the only thing that impelled him. Something less obvious and more profound made him gasp for breath and caught him in the stomach. He stepped carefully up the flat old stairs and thought: "Respect for a brave enemy when he stands on the field of honour! God has judged him. Yes, indeed, such is life. Nobody can tell whether some day— But, come now, there is a difference, either a thing is right or it isn't. One must neglect nothing that can add to the fame of what is right. Our old Emperor probably had also to make an effort when he went to Wilhelmshöhe to meet the utterly defeated Napoleon."
By this time he had reached the mezzanine floor, and he walked cautiously along the lengthy corridor at the end of which the door—here also—stood open. He kept close up against the wall and peeped in. A bed with the foot turned towards him, and in it old Buck was reclining against a heap of pillows, apparently out of his mind. Not a sound. Was
