secret could give that desperate villain her
husband, the discharged soldier, such influence
over Conrad and young Frederic? Besides,
Wagner had been heard to say, jeeringly, that
if he told all he knew, the old place would
crack asunder for very horror; and that, as for
the mill family, they were indeed bound to be
kind to him, and liberal, for if they held back,
he could make them give him what money he
would, and they might think themselves let off
easily for any mere money payment he chose to
demand. All these rumours and hints coming
finally, and last of all, to the ears of the magistrate
—he who had granted the letters of
administration—a search was decided on, and the
police entered the mill. But Barbara and the
sons knew the weakness of the official. A blind
of gold soon darkened his eyes, and neither he
nor his gendarmes could discover a trace of foul
play on which suspicion might rest. Yet the
word once spoken never wholly died away;
the suspicion, once awakened, never slept again;
and though the family returned to their old
peaceful way of life, and for three years longer
forgot their former griefs; yet the cloud was
always over them, and who knew when it might
burst forth into tempest and despair?

In 1821, the magistrate of the Sittenthal
district fell under the displeasure of his
superiors. A commission was sent down to
examine and report on his conduct; during which
time he was suspended, and access to the
registration office denied him. While the
commission was going on, a fire suddenly broke out
in the registration-office, where all the deeds and
papers were kept; and before it could be
extinguished the chief part of the records were
destroyed. Thus, a crowd of witnesses was got
rid of, which would have been as awkward as
undeniable. But among the papers saved was
one headed "Touching the appointment of a
curator for the absent Black Miller," by which
it appeared evident that more lay behind than
had ever been made manifest to the public. The
new commissioner was curious and energetic.
He soon learnt the story of the Black Miller,
and all the gossip connected with his strange
and sudden disappearance; he learnt, too, that
the magistrate had caused the mill to be searched
in the most careless and unsatisfactory manner;
that his "report" had been laughed at by
every one in the place, and believed by all to
have been bought by a bribe. In a word, the
commissioner was set full and fair on the track,
and it would be his own fault if he did not
follow up the scent. He resolved at once
on his course of action, and the grass did
not grow under his feet before he translated that
resolve into deeds. That very evening, in the
mournful hours of the early darkness, while
Barbara and her children were standing by the
table saying grace before supper, he suddenly
surrounded the mill with a band of soldiers;
and, before the inmates had time to speak among
themselves or arrange the order of their answers,
placed every one of them under separate arrest.

And first were examined Barbara and her
two sons; but without effect. They
answered just as they had answered three years
ago; and the commissioner thought he was
going to have his labour for nothing, and be
made a fool of into the bargain. But the next
day Wagner was taken in hand, and proved
himself the friend of justice and the new
commissioner. It was not long before he smoothed
away all difficulties, and knotted the halter for
his own neck quite resignedly. Silently he led
the soldiers over a waste bit of ground that lay
near the mill; up to a steep ravine, where
nothing but lizards and loathsome reptiles crept
among the stones, and the hoarse black raven
screamed over the deep rift.

"Here," said Wagner, "may the corpse of
the Black Miller be found, for here the sons
flung him after they had murdered him, piling
upon him weeds and moss and heavy stones;
yes, here is the Black Miller sure enough!"

The soldiers rushed down the ravine, and
began to dig, Wagner directing. At last, after
having removed many large and heavy boulders,
they came to a heap of dead leaves and smaller
stones; when the man cried out, "Now for the
body!" and the next instant their picks struck
upon a mass of mouldering cloth and linen
—with the skeleton of a human being
enclosed.

"Yes," cried Wagner, as they brought up the
heap, "yes, that is the Black Miller! Four
years ago, the sons, in my presence, carried him
here and flung him into the hole, and then we
covered him up with stones and moss. And
look at his beautiful teeth! The Black Miller
had grand teeth, just like the skeleton here!"
As many of the bystanders remembered.

When the wife and children, were brought to
the place as they were, suddenly, and without
preparation—a most noticeable effect was
produced on each, but different with each. "Yes,"
said the eldest son, Conrad, and without being
questioned, "that is my father, but I am not
the doer." Frederic, the second son, looked
silently at the bones. When asked what they
were, he answered, doggedly, "What should
they be? They are bones; but whether they
are the bones of a man or beast I do not know.
I do not understand either men's bones nor
beasts'." Kunigunde, the youngest daughter,
cried out on the way, "I know nothing of it.
I know certainly that that thing is my father,
but of how he came yonder I know nothing. I
am guiltless, quite guiltless." Margaret, the
second daughter, also said, "Indeed I am innocent.
I knew nothing of the matter until my
father began to scream fearfully. It was too
late then. I have not had a happy hour since.
Oh God! what will become of us!"

All these passionate protestations were
evidence enough. The new commissioner was not
to be bought off like the friendly old magistrate:
blood must be redeemed by blood, and the
offended majesty of justice vindicated. The
wife, her four children, and Wagner, the day-
labourer, were all indicted for the murder of
Frederic, the Black Miller, and matters looked