As much as he could, to be sure, the Hunter associated with the Justice, and the man’s originality continued to attract him just as strongly as it had done on the first day of their acquaintance.  But the old man was occupied the greater part of the time with matters pertaining to his household, and then he had, too, a great many things to discuss with outsiders, since every day people dropped in at the farm to solicit his help or advice.  On these occasions the Hunter noticed that the Justice, in the truest sense of the word, never did anything gratis.  For neighbors, relatives, and friends he was ready to do anything, but they had always to do something for him in return, even were it only an errand in a neighboring peasant community, or some other small service of this kind.

Every day something was fired at, but regularly missed; so that the old man, who invariably hit his mark, no matter what he aimed at, began to look with astonishment upon these futile efforts.  It was a fortunate thing for our Hunter that the nearest estate-owner happened at that time to be away on a trip with his family and servants, otherwise the professional gunners up on the “Open Tribunal” would probably have caught him sooner or later.

At noon on the following day the Hunter heard a noise under his window; he looked out and saw that a number of men were standing in front of the house.  Just then the Justice, dressed in his Sunday clothes, stepped out of the door, and at the same time a two-horse wagon drew up opposite by the oak grove.  In the wagon was a man in black robes, apparently a clergyman; he was sitting among several baskets, in some of which fowls seemed to be fluttering.  A little behind him sat a woman in bourgeois dress, who was holding another basket rigidly in her lap.  In front by the horses stood a peasant with the whip, his arm resting on the neck of one of the animals.  Beside him was a maid, also holding a basket, covered with a snow-white napkin, under her arm.  A man in a wide brown overcoat, whose thoughtful gait and solemn face made it at once unmistakably evident that he was a sexton, walked with dignity from the wagon to the house, placed himself in front of the Justice, lifted his hat, and recited the following verses: 

  Before your gate you now may see
  The Sexton and the Dominie,
  The Sexton’s wife, the house-maid too,
  Who’ve come to get what is their due,
  By custom old from this domain,
  The hens, the eggs, the cheeses twain;
  So tell us then without delay
  If you are all prepared to pay.

While listening to this little recitation the Justice had respectfully removed his hat.  Afterwards he approached the wagon, bowed to the clergyman, reverently helped him to alight, and then stood off at one side with him and held a conversation, which the Hunter could not overhear, about various matters.  In the meantime the woman with the basket had also stepped down and taken a position beside the Sexton, the peasant and the maid, and behind the two chief persons, as if for a procession.