There Ebbo found that
his late exploit and his future plan had made him a person of much
greater consideration than on his last visit, and he demeaned himself
with far more ease and affability in consequence. He had affairs on
his hands too, and felt more than one year older.
The two guilds agreed to build the bridge, and share the toll with
the Baron in return for the ground and materials; but they preferred
the plan that placed one pier on the Schlangenwald bank, and proposed
to write to the Count an offer to include him in the scheme, awarding
him a share of the profits in proportion to his contribution.
However vexed at the turn affairs had taken, Ebbo could offer no
valid objection, and was obliged to affix his signature to the letter
in company with the guildmasters.
It was despatched by the city pursuivants -
The only men who safe might ride;
Their errands on the border side and a meeting was appointed in the
Rathhaus for the day of their expected return. The higher burghers
sat on their carved chairs in the grand old hall, the lesser magnates
on benches, and Ebbo, in an elbowed seat far too spacious for his
slender proportions, met a glance from Friedel that told him his
merry brother was thinking of the frog and the ox.
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