It was he who unraveled the mystery which had cast a shadow
over the good name of Hawermann, and who at the proper moment called
Frank von Rambow home from Paris. When Hawermann had received the news
that he was cleared, and Mrs. Behrens wished to go to him at once, uncle
Braesig drew her gently back to the sofa and said: "Not quite yet, Mrs.
Behrens. You see, I think that Hawermann wants to have a little quiet
time to tell God all about it, and that Louisa is helping him. It's
enough for her to be there, for as you know our God is a jealous God,
and doesn't suffer people to meddle, when he is speaking to a soul that
is filled with gratitude to Him." Little Mrs. Behrens gazed at him in
speechless amazement. At last she murmured: "Oh, Braesig, I've always
looked upon you as a heathen, and now I see that you're a Christian." "I
know nothing about that, Mrs. Behrens. I'm sure of this, however, that
what little I've been able to do in this matter has been done as an
assessor and not as a Christian." Uncle Braesig, you must know, had
recently been appointed an assessor to the Rahnstaedt court, and he was
as proud of his new title as he had been of that of "farm-bailiff"
before.
As the years advanced, his friends prospered, while Pomuchelskopp, whom
the Guerlitz laborers had badly treated in the revolution of 1848, sold
his estates and moved away. Uncle Braesig went about visiting his friends,
and on one such visit had an attack of gout that would have been of
little consequence, but which seized both legs and then mounted into his
stomach, because of a chill he got on his journey home.
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