Then Niels was ordered to take off all his clothes, piece by piece, even to his shirt, and dress the dead man in them.  Even his leaden earring, which he had worn for many years, was put in the ear of the corpse.  After this was done, Morten took a spade and gave the head of the corpse two crashing blows, one over the nose, the other on the temple.  The body was hidden in a sack and kept in the house during the next day.  At night the day following, they carried it out to the wood near Veilbye.

Several times Niels had asked of his brother what all this preparation boded.  But Morten answered only, “That is my affair.  Do as I tell you, and don’t ask questions.”

When they neared the edge of the wood by Veilbye, Morten said, “Now fetch me one of the coats the pastor wears most.  If you can, get the green dressing gown I have often seen him wear mornings.”

“I don’t dare,” said Niels, “he keeps it in his bed chamber.”

“Well, then, I’ll dare it myself,” said Morten.  “And now, go your way, and never show yourself here again.  Here is a bag with one hundred thalers.  They will last you until you can take service somewhere in another country.  Go where no one has ever seen you, and take another name.  Never come back to Denmark again.  Travel by night, and hide in the woods by day until you are well away from here.  Here are provisions enough to last you for several days.  And remember, never show yourself here again, as you value your life.”

Niels obeyed, and has never seen his brother since that day.  He had had much trouble, had been a soldier and lost his health in the war, and finally, after great trials and sufferings, had managed to get back to the land of his birth.  This was the story as told me by the miserable man, and I could not doubt its truth.

It was now only too clear to me that my unfortunate brother in the Lord had fallen a victim to the hatred of his fiendish enemy, to the delusion of his judge and the witnesses, and to his own credulous imagination.

Oh, what is man that he shall dare to sit in judgment over his fellows!  God alone is the Judge.  He who gives life may alone give death!

I did not feel it my duty to give official information against this crushed and broken sinner, particularly as the district judge is still alive, and it would have been cruelty to let him know of his terrible error.

Instead, I gave what comfort my office permitted to the poor man, and recommended him not to reveal his name or tell his story to anyone in the district.  On these conditions I would give him a home until I could arrange for a permanent refuge for him in my brother’s house, a good distance from these parts.

The day following was a Sunday.  When I returned from evening service at my branch parish, the beggar had disappeared.  But by the evening of the next day the story was known throughout the neighborhood.

Goaded by the pangs of conscience, Niels had gone to Rosmer and made himself known to the judge as the true Niels Bruus.  Upon the hearing of the terrible truth, the judge was taken with a stroke and died before the week was out.  But on Tuesday morning they found Niels Bruus dead on the grave of the late rector Soeren Quist of Veilbye, by the door of Aalsoe church.