VIII
THE FREE CITIZEN gave in its newest number a fine surprise to its readers. They turned the two sheets over and over again, but there was not a word of it in it! It kept stubborn silence on everything,—on the picnic, the young lady, the disgrace of the ruling party,—bah, the burgomistress got off with her usual share of abuse, but otherwise not a word! That caused the heads of the town, of the Opposition itself, to shake knowingly: ”Evidently the doctor is losing his teeth. . . .”
The sly doctor had put the hand of a diplomat upon that muddled situation.
The town was all in a flutter. Cupidi novarum rerum they now were in the ant hill. They wanted to know more and still
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