"
"At least," I continued, "you can advise me upon one point; but
excuse me, shall we not sit down a moment yonder? As my question
relates to money, I should not wish to be overheard."
I pointed out a retired spot, just before reaching which we were
joined by my friend, who suddenly stepped out from behind a clump
of lilacs. The Baron and he saluted each other.
"Now," said I to the former, "I can ask your advice, Mr. Johann
Helm!"
He was not an adept, after all. His astonishment and confusion
were brief, to be sure, but they betrayed him so completely that
his after-impulse to assume a haughty, offensive air only made us
smile.
"If I had a message to you from Otto Lindenschmidt, what then?" I
asked.
He turned pale, and presently stammered out, "He--he is dead!"
"Now," said my friend, "it is quite time to drop the mask before
us. You see we know you, and we know your history. Not from Otto
Lindenschmidt alone; Count Ladislas Kasincsky--"
"What! Has he come back from Siberia?" exclaimed Johann Helm. His
face expressed abject terror; I think he would have fallen upon his
knees before us if he had not somehow felt, by a rascal's
instinct, that we had no personal wrongs to redress in unmasking
him.
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