be ratified?"

"Just so."

She paused; and, after a slight struggle with herself, went on,--

"The contract, legally drawn up and complete in every way, _was_ signed;
not, however, by my father, but by my brother. You have heard, perhaps,
that I have a brother. Bad companionship and a yielding disposition
have led him into evil, and for some years we have not seen him. Much
misfortune has befallen him; but none greater, perhaps, than his meeting
with Marsac; for, though Adolf has done many things, he would not have
gone thus far without the promptings of this bad man."

"Was it his own name he wrote?" asked I.

"No; it was my father's," and she faltered at the word; and as she spoke
it, her head fell heavily forward, and she covered her face with her
hands.

She rallied, however, quickly, and went on. "We now know that the timber
is not worth one-fourth of this large sum. Baron Elias himself has seen
it, and declares that we have been duped or--worse. He insists that
we rescind the contract, or accept all its consequences. The one
is hopeless,--the other ruin. Meanwhile, the Baron suspends farther
relations with us, and heavy acceptances of ours will soon press for
payment. I must not go into this," said she, hurriedly. "You are very
young to charge with such a mission; but I have great faith in your
loyalty. You will not wrong our trust?"

"That I will not."

"You will go to Graf Hunyadi, and speak with him. If he be--as many
of his countrymen are--a man of high and generous feeling, he will not
bring ruin upon us, when our only alternative would be to denounce our
own. You are very young; but you have habits of the world and society.
Nay,--I am not seeking to learn a secret; but you know enough to make
you companionable and acceptable, where any others in our employ would
be inadmissible. At all events, you will soon see the sort of man we
have to deal with, and you will report to me at once."

"I am not to tell him how this signature has been obtained?" asked I,
awaiting the reply.

"That would be to denounce the contract at once," cried she, as though
this thought had for the first time struck her. "You know the penalty
of a forgery here. It is the galleys for life. He must be saved at
all events. Don't you see," cried she, eagerly, "I can give you no
instructions. I have none to give. When I say I trust you,--I have told
you all."

"Has Herr Ignaz not said how he would wish me to act?"

"My father k