'You have
sufficiently marked your zeal to your employer; and I begin to weary
of a moderation you abuse.'
The Chancellor moved to the appointed chair and took his seat in
silence.
'And now,' said Otto, opening the roll, 'what is all this? it looks
like the manuscript of a book.'
'It is,' said Gotthold, 'the manuscript of a book of travels.'
'You have read it, Doctor Hohenstockwitz?' asked the Prince.
'Nay, I but saw the title-page,' replied Gotthold. 'But the roll
was given to me open, and I heard no word of any secrecy.'
Otto dealt the Chancellor an angry glance.
'I see,' he went on. 'The papers of an author seized at this date
of the world's history, in a state so petty and so ignorant as
Grunewald, here is indeed an ignominious folly. Sir,' to the
Chancellor, 'I marvel to find you in so scurvy an employment. On
your conduct to your Prince I will not dwell; but to descend to be a
spy! For what else can it be called? To seize the papers of this
gentleman, the private papers of a stranger, the toil of a life,
perhaps - to open, and to read them. And what have we to do with
books? The Herr Doctor might perhaps be asked for his advice; but
we have no INDEX EXPURGATORIUS in Grunewald. Had we but that, we
should be the most absolute parody and farce upon this tawdry
earth.'
Yet, even while Otto spoke, he had continued to unfold the roll; and
now, when it lay fully open, his eye rested on the title-page
elaborately written in red ink.
Pages:
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