LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 245, 23 March 1875, Page 3

LITERATURE.

HALF THE PENALTY. { Concluded ) < What ! can it be you, Kriechwurm ?’ ‘ A oh ja, Herr,’ replied the mendicant, in a voice faint from weakness, and coveiing his face with his hands ; I am indeed the un - fortunate Kriechwurm. Had I recognised you, I should never have ventured to accost you—you who have so much right to hate and despise me ; but pardon me, Heir, I have not tasted food to-day, and I am very very miserable.’ Herr Bummel stared for a moment at the wretched object before him, shivering beneath his scanty clothing ; then, as if under the influence of a sudden resolution, exclaimed, in a tone of deep emotion: ‘ Kriechwurm, let bygones be bygones : you arc in need ; it is my duty to help you, and I will. Come with me, and let the past be forgiven and forgotten.’ Thus saying, and without farther parley, he seized hold of the ex-informer s arm, and, in spite of the other’s real or feigned reluctance, hurried him away. The clock struck ten as they entered Frau Bummers modest but cheerful dwelling. The crackling wood in the well-polished metal stove diffused a pleasant wtrmth through the comfortable Wohnzimxner, where the plump and still comely mistress of the house, awaiting the truant’s return, was busily engaged in her usual occupation of knitting. In a capacious arm chair sat the worthy Herr Baumhauer, smoking a china pipe Of vast proportions ; while a neat-

handed Phyllis, in the shape of a flaxenhaired Dienstmadel, was preparing the table for the evening meal. ‘Da hist du !’ cried Triidchen, as she heard her husband’s step. ‘ And not alone,’ he replied ; ‘ I bring a friend with me.’

‘He is welcome,’ said Frau Bummel simply, without, however, recognising the stranger. Meanwhile Herr Baumhauer sat gazing intently at the new-comer, whose attenuated figure was as yet scarcely perceptible behind his portly host. ‘ Kreichwurm, or his ghost! ’ he mutterred, rising from his chair, and rubbing his eyes in amazement. • No ghost,’ retorted Herr Bummel gaily, ‘ bufour old acquaintance himself, who is, I doubt not, as ready for his supper as I am. Rieke,’ added he, addressing the servant, ‘ bestir thyself ; bring more wood, and let the soup be scalding hot, for it is a bitter night out of doors.’

In a few minutes the party were seated around the hospitable board, and Herr Kriechwurm, though visibly embarrassed, felt in some measure reassured by the unobtrusive delicacy with which all his wants were supplied, while every allusion to the past was instinctively avoided. At the conclusion of the frugal but abundant repast, during which our hero had related with pardonable exultation the occurrences of the afternoon, and subsequently emptied his pockets of their precious burden, which he carefully locked up in a bureau standing in a corner of the room, his guest made a movement as if to retire.

‘ No, no,’ interposed Herr Bummel ; ‘ you do not leave my roof to-night. Triidchen will see to your accommodation. Our Gastzimmer is but a small one, but you will sleep none the worse for that. To-morrow we will talk farther. Gutc nacht.’

When the two friends were left together, and their respective pipes duly kindled, ‘ Bummel. ’ said Herr Baumhauer, * you are a worthy fellow ! ’ *Du mines Zeng ,’ was the impatient answer, ‘ you would have done the same yourself. But I own the matter puzzles me sorely : what can have brought him so low ?’ * I can partly tell you, ’ replied his companion. ‘After that last trick he played you, people fought shy of him, and began to look the other way whenever they met him. He was a good hand at accounts, as you know, and used to pick up a fairish living here and there when tradesmen wanted their balances wound up in a hmry. Well, that source of employment was now at an end; no one dreamt of admitting into their houses a sneak who might inform against them the next day; for there are secrets in all families, Bummel, and Kriechwurm was just the fellow to worm them out. In short, finding Wiesbaden too hot to hold him, he went to Frankfort, and managed at first to keep body and soul together by doing dirty work at the Bourse; and that’s all I know about him. What has been his lot for the last year or two is a mystery no one but himself can fathom; but to judge from appearances, it has not been a brilliant one. ’ ‘ He mustn’t starve for all that,’ abruptly rejoined Herr Bummel. ‘ Look here, Baumhauer; if you and I were to say a good word for him, provided we find he deserves it, he might still turn out an an orientlicher Kerl. He shall have a portion of my winnings to set him up; indeed, he has a sort of right to it, for had it not been for him I should never have gone to Homburg, and the seven hundred florins would still be in M Blanc’s strongbox. What say you, will you stand by me?’ *lf I didn’t,’ replied Herr Baumhauer, 1 you would do it all yourself, and he has already bled you pretty freely. I don’t like Kriechwurm —never did; but that’s no reason for not giving him another chance. Whatever you choose to do for him, I’ll go halves in. Ein maim ein Wort!’ and with a hearty shake of the hand the friends parted, and Herr Bummel went to bed.

At an early hour on the following morn ing, husband and wife were alarmed by a loud knocking at their chamber door, ‘ Herr! Madame!’ cried the voice of Reike from without, ‘the strange gentleman is

gone. ’ ‘ Gone!’ murmured her mistress, half asleep. ‘Ja nohl, madame; and he has taken master’s greatcoat and hat with him. ’ Hastily slipping on his dressing-gown, Herr Bummel rushed into the sitting-room, his mind filled Avith anxious forebodings, and proceeded straight to the bureau. His Avorst fears Avere realised; the lock had been cleverly forced, and the entire contents had disappeared. While he Avas gazing in mute despair at the empty space before him, his wife arrived in a fabulous deshabille.

‘The bureau has been opened!’ she exclaimed; ‘ and the money ’ ‘Gone!’ was his laconic answer. ‘He might as Avell have left me my own stake,’ added he.

Frau Trlidcheu though of the amethyst necklace, and chimed in with a sympathetic sigh. ‘ I’ll never do another good-natured thing as long as I live !’ said Herr Bummel.

‘ Those who know thee will scarcely believe that,’ replied his wife, kissing him fondly.

Nothing farther was ever heard m Wiesbaden of Herr Kriechwurm or his ill-gotten spoil, police and telegraph alike failing to trace the direction of his flight. Reports, indeed, were subsequently afloat of an individual answering his description having been seen at Monte-Carlo, exercising the precarious calling of ‘ bonnetin which case it is probable that the seven hundred florins had long since returned to the custody of their former possessor, M. Blanc. When the landlord of the Blue Lion was informed of his friend’s loss, and of the delinquent’s escape; ‘ll sera alle, said Herr Baumhauer, who was peculiarly proud of his French, which he spoke with an atrociously Rhenish accent—‘ il sera allb se faire bendre ailleurs; and, tausend sapperment, he continued, ‘if I were the judge before whom he is pretty sure to be brought one of these days, I’d engage that for once in his life he shouldn’t get off with half the penalty.’