Page:H.M. The Patrioteer.djvu/347

Rh

"The second person who was in Gausenfeld is Judge Kühlemann! That's true. Kühlemann himself. The same Kühlemann from whose bequest the Infant Asylum is to be built. Will any one pretend that Kühlemann was stealing from his own bequest? The conclusion is obvious!" Heuteufel shrugged his shoulders and there was approving laughter. But not for long; passions were soon kindled again. "Proof! Kühlemann himself should explain! Thieves!" Heuteufel explained that Kühlemann was dangerously ill. They were sending a messenger and had already telephoned. "Oh, damn!" whispered Kunze to his friend Diederich. "If it was Kühlemann then it is all over except the shouting." "Not by a long chalk," Diederich answered confidently. Pastor Zillich, for his party had now no other hope than the hand of God. "We don't want that," said Diederich with great assurance, as he pounced upon a sceptic and talked him over. He egged on the loyalists to take a more decided stand, he even shook hands with Social Democrats in order to strengthen their hatred of the corrupt bourgeoisie, and everywhere he displayed Klüsing's letter. He beat on the paper so vigorously with the back of his hand that nobody could read it, and shouted: "Is Kühlemann there? It is Buck who is mentioned. If Kühlemann has a gasp left he will have to admit that it wasn't he. It was Buck!"

As he spoke he kept his eye on the platform, where a remarkable silence had ensued. The gentlemen of the committee were rushing about, but they talked in whispers. Old Buck was nowhere to be seen. "What is wrong?" The hall had also grown quieter, nobody knew why. Suddenly word came: "They say Kühlemann is dead!" Diederich felt it rather than heard it. He suddenly stopped talking and exerting himself. His face was twitching from excitement. He did not reply when he was asked a question, around him he could hear a vague buzzing of voices, and he no longer knew exactly where he was. Then Gottlieb Hornung came up and said: "God's