the spring, I stepped forward and
greeted him politely, after which I said: "I see by the strangers' list
that you are from East Prussia, Baron; have you ever been in Poland?" At
that moment, a voice behind him called out rather sharply, "Jean!" The
Baron started, turned round and then back to me, and all his art
could not prevent the blood from rushing to his face. I made, as if by
accident, a gesture with my hand, indicating success, and went a step
further.

"Because," said I, "I am thinking of making a visit to Cracow and
Warsaw, and should be glad of any information--"

"Certainly!" he interrupted me, "and I should be very glad to give it,
if I had ever visited Poland."

"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.

Our object, however, was to ascertain through him the complete facts of
Otto Lindenschmidt's history, and then to banish him from Liebenstein.
We allowed him to suppose for awhile that we were acting under the
authority of persons concerned, in order to make the best possible use
of his demoralized mood, for we knew it would not last long.

My guesses were very nearly correct. Otto Lindenschmidt had been
educated by an old Baron, Bernhard von Herisau, on account of his
resemblance in person to a dead son, whose name had also been Otto.