course. I must make a report at once to
headquarters about what I have learned. You can imagine yourself what
the next steps will be."

Her deep sigh showed him that she knew as well as he. In the same
second, however, a thought shot through her brain, changing her whole
king. Her pale face glowed, her dulled eyes shot fire, and the fingers
with which she held Muller's hand tightly clasped, were suddenly
feverishly hot.

"And you--you are still the only person who knows the truth?" she gasped
in his ear.

The detective nodded. "And you thought you might silence me?" he asked
calmly. "That will not be easy--for you can imagine that I did not come
unarmed."

Adele Bernauer smiled sadly. "I would take even this way to save Herbert
Thorne from disgrace, if I thought that it could be successful, and if
I had not thought of a milder way to silence a man who cannot be a
millionaire. I have served in this house for thirty-two years, I have
been treated with such generosity that I have been able to save almost
every cent of my wages for my old age. With the interest that has rolled
up, my little fortune must amount to nearly eight thousand gulden. I
will gladly give it to you, if you will but keep silence, if you will
not tell what you have discovered." She spoke gaspingly and sank down on
her knees before she had finished.

"And Mr. Thorne also--" she continued hastily, as she saw no sign of
interest in Muller's calm face. Then her voice failed her.

The detective looked down kindly on her grey hairs and answered: "No,
no, my good woman; that won't do. One cannot conceal one crime by
committing another. I myself would naturally not listen to your
suggestion for a moment, but I am also convinced that Mr. Thorne, to
whom you are so devoted, and who, I acknowledge, pleased me the very
first sight I had of him--I am convinced that he would not agree for a
moment to any such solution of the problem."

"Then I can only hope that you will not find him in Venice," replied
Mrs. Bernauer, with utter despair in her voice and eyes.

"I am not at all certain that I will find him in Venice when I leave
here to-morrow morning," said Muller calmly.

"Oh! then you don't want to find him! Oh God! how good, how
inexpressibly good you are," stammered the woman, seizing at some vague
hope in her distraught heart.

"No, you are mistaken again, Mrs. Bernauer. I will find Mr. Thorne
wherever he may be. But I may arrive in Venice too late