Page:H.M. The Patrioteer.djvu/345

Rh followed suit, but half-heartedly, for the shout of "Wulckow!" had begun again, to the tapping of beer glasses which were being knocked on the tables. Diederich saw that this was a pre-arranged trick, and was directed not only against himself but much higher authorities. He looked around uneasily, and the police officer was again clasping his helmet. Diederich made a sign to him with his hand, as much as to say he would attend to this, and bellowed:

"Not Wulckow, but very different people! The Liberal Infant Asylum! They wanted me to give up my house for that; that was proposed to me, I am ready to swear it. As a loyal patriot I emphatically repudiated the suggestion that I should cheat the town and share the spoil with an unprincipled municipal council."

"You lie!" cried old Buck, as he stood up flaming. But Diederich flamed even more fiercely, in the consciousness of being right and of his moral mission. He plunged his hand into his pocketbook, and in front of the hydra-headed monster below whose venom bespattered him: "Liar! Swindler!" he fearlessly waved his document. "Here's the proof!" he shouted, waving the paper until they decided to listen to him.

"It did not work with me, but in Gausenfeld, it did, my fellow-citizens. In Gausenfeld &hellip How can that be? I'll tell you. Two gentlemen from the Liberal Party went to the owner and tried to secure in advance purchase rights to a certain piece of property, in case the Infant Asylum should be built there."

"Name! Name!"

Diederich slapped his chest, prepared to go to any length. Klüsing had told him everything except the names. With flashing eyes he stared at the members of the committee. One seemed to grow pale. "Nothing venture, nothing win," thought Diederich, and he shouted: "one was Cohn the owner of the drapery stores!"

He stepped off the platform with the air of one whose duty