quietly in a South German town, who takes in an orphan, Herman, and trains him; the two form a deep, filial bond. Selming is found murdered, and suspicion falls on Herman after he leaves town early on a secret errand; fragments of a torn letter and a cache of money deepen suspicion. Brought before a conflicted judge, Herman refuses to reveal Selming’s private business, reacts in shock to a knife engraved “Hannu Lobe,” and finally, under torture, falsely confesses, then escapes from a secure cell with mysterious help before being recaptured and condemned. At the scaffold he proclaims his innocence, when an agitated man—Selming’s landlord—bursts in and confesses; he is revealed as Henrik Dorff, also known as Ditlev, an old criminal associate. The judge, now believing Herman, learns Selming’s secret past through papers: Selming was once Hannu Lobe, a repentant former thief whose life turned after a botched burglary, years as a soldier and clockmaker abroad, and a return devoted to restitution. Herman explains his journey and the torn letter were part of Selming’s discreet reparations, and that the prison break was aided by an unknown benefactor. The section closes with the judge disclosing that the landlord and Ditlev are the same man and the true murderer, clarifying the tangled case. (This is an automatically generated summary.)