." in the second entry to mean "Helmine." The two last suggested
a removal to Warsaw from the country. Here was a little more ground to
stand on; but how should I ever get at the secret?

I took up the torn half of a note, which, after the first inspection,
I had laid aside as a hopeless puzzle. A closer examination revealed
several things which failed to impress me at the outset. It was written
in a strong and rather awkward masculine hand; several words were
underscored, two misspelled, and I felt--I scarcely knew why--that it
was written in a spirit of mingled contempt and defiance. Let me give
the fragment just as it lay before me:

"ARON!

It is quite time
be done. Who knows
is not his home by this
CONCERN FOR THE
that they are well off,
sian officers are
cide at once, my
risau, or I must
t TEN DAYS DELAY
money can be divi-
tier, and you may
ever you please.
untess goes, and she
will know who you
time, unless you carry
friend or not
decide,
ann Helm."

Here, I felt sure, was the clue to much of the mystery. The first thing
that struck me was the appearance of a new name. I looked at it again,
ran through in my mind all possible German names, and found that it
could only be "Johann,"--and in the same instant I recalled the frequent
habit of the Prussian and Polish nobility of calling their German valets
by French names. This, then, was "Jean!" The address was certainly
"Baron," and why thrice underscored, unless in contemptuous satire?
Light began to break upon the matter at last. "Otto" had been playing
the part, perhaps assuming the name, of a nobleman, seduced to the
deception by his passion for the Countess' sister, Helmine. This
explained the reference to "the papers," and "the secret," and would
account for the respectful and sympathetic tone of the Countess' letter.
But behind this there was certainly another secret, in which "Y."
(whoever he might be) was concerned, and which related to money. The
close of the note, which I filled out to read, "Your friend or not, as
you may decide," conveyed a threat, and, to judge from the halves of
lines immediately preceding it, the threat referred to the money, as
well as to the betrayal of an assumed character.