ch he was
always tormented by any mystery which momentarily baffled him, I was,
of course, forced to hold my peace. On the third day, however, of his
own accord he asked me to what epidemic I had referred. I then detailed
to him some of the strange events which were agitating the mind of the
outside world. From the very first he was interested: later on that
interest grew into a passion, a greedy soul-consuming quest after the
truth, the intensity of which was such at last as to move me even to
pity.

I may as well here restate the facts as I communicated them to Zaleski.
The concatenation of incidents, it will be remembered, started with the
extraordinary death of that eminent man of science, Professor
Schleschinger, consulting laryngologist to the Charite Hospital in
Berlin. The professor, a man of great age, was on the point of
contracting his third marriage with the beautiful and accomplished
daughter of the Herr Geheimrath Otto von Friedrich. The contemplated
union, which was entirely one of those _mariages de convenance_ so
common in good society, sprang out of the professor's ardent desire to
leave behind him a direct heir to his very considerable wealth. By his
first two marriages, indeed, he had had large families, and was at this
very time surrounded by quite an army of little grandchildren, from
whom (all his direct descendants being dead) he might have been content
to select his heir; but the old German prejudices in these matters are
strong, and he still hoped to be represented on his decease by a son of
his own. To this whim the charming Ottilie was marked by her parents as
the victim. The wedding, however, had been postponed owing to a slight
illness of the veteran scientist, and just as he was on the point of
final recovery from it, death intervened to prevent altogether the
execution of his design. Never did death of man create a profounder
sensation; _never was death of man followed by consequences more
terrible_. The _Residenz_ of the scientist was a stately mansion near
the University in the _Unter den Linden_ boulevard, that is to say, in
the most fashionable _Quartier_ of Berlin. His bedroom from a
considerable height looked out on a small back garden, and in this room
he had been engaged in conversation with his colleague and medical
attendant, Dr. Johann Hofmeier, to a late hour of the night. During all
this time he seemed cheerful, and spoke quite lucidly on various
topics. In particular, he ex