at home yet. I left him in the shop."

Almost before the words were out of her mouth, Schmidt had turned and was
running down the stairs, two at a time. Akulina called him back.

"Wait a minute!" she cried, advancing to the hand-rail on the landing.
"What in the world are you in such a hurry about?"

"Oh--nothing--nothing especial," answered the man, suddenly stopping and
looking up.

Akulina set her fat hands on her hips and held her head a little on one
side. She had plenty of curiosity in her composition.

"Well, I must say," she observed, "for a man who is not in a hurry about
anything, you are uncommonly brisk with your feet. If it is only a matter
of business, I daresay I will do as well as my husband."

"Oh, I daresay," admitted Schmidt, scratching his head. "But this is
rather a personal matter of business, you see."

"And you mean that you want some money, I suppose," suggested Akulina, at
a venture.

"No, no, not at all--no money at all. It is not a question of money." He
hoped to satisfy her by a statement which was never without charm in her
ears. But Akulina was not satisfied; on the contrary, she began to suspect
that something serious might be the matter, for she could see Schmidt's
face better now, as he looked up to her, facing the gaslight that burned
above her own head. Having been violently angry not more than an hour or
two earlier, her nerves were not altogether calmed, and the memory of the
scene in the shop was still vividly present. There was no knowing what the
Count might not have done, in retaliation for the verbal injuries she had
heaped upon him, and her quick instinct connected Schmidt's unusually
anxious appearance and evident haste to be off, with some new event in
which the Count had played a part.

"Have you seen the Count?" she inquired, just as Schmidt was beginning to
move again.

"Yes," answered the latter, trying to assume a doubtful tone of voice. "I
believe--in fact, I did see him--for a moment--"

Akulina smiled to herself, proud of her own acuteness.

"I thought so," she said. "And he has made some trouble about that
wretched doll--"

"How did you guess that?" asked Schmidt, turning and ascending a few
steps. He was very much astonished.

"Oh, I know many things--many interesting things. And now you want to warn
my husband of what the Count has done, do you not? It must be something
serious, since you are in such a hurry. Come in, Herr Schmidt, and have a
glas