ich for several days quite deprived him of consciousness. Fortunately
there was a young and right clever doctor in the place, who opposed a
stout resistance to the disease, so that the Count not only recovered
consciousness but also his health, so far that after a few days he was
in a position to continue his journey. But his heart was oppressed with
the fear that a second attack on the road might kill him, and so plunge
his wife in a condition of the most straitened poverty. Not a little to
his astonishment he learned from the doctor that the place, in spite of
its small size and wretched appearance, was the seat of a Prussian
provincial court, and that he could there have his will registered with
all due formality, as soon as he could succeed in establishing his
identity. This, however, was a most formidable difficulty, for who knew
the Count in this district? But wonderful are the doings of Accident!
Just as the Count got out of his carriage in front of the inn of the
little town, there stood in the doorway a grey-haired old invalid,
almost eighty years old, who dwelt in a neighbouring village and earned
a living by plaiting willow baskets, and who only seldom came into the
town. In his youth he had served in the Austrian army, and for fifteen
successive years had been groom to the Count's father. At the first
glance he remembered his master's son; and he and his wife acted as
fully legitimated vouchers of the Count's identity, and not to their
detriment, as may well be conceived.

The young advocate at once saw that all depended upon the locality and
its exact correspondence with the Count's statements, if he wanted to
glean further details and find a clue to the place where the Count had
been ill and made his testament. He set off with the Countess for East
Prussia. There by examination of the post-books he was desirous of
making out, if possible, the route of travel pursued by the Count. But
after a good deal of wasted effort, he only managed to discover that
the Count had taken post-horses from Eylau to Allenburg. Beyond
Allenburg every trace was lost; nevertheless he satisfied himself that
the Count had certainly travelled through Prussian Lithuania, and of
this he was still further convinced on finding registered at Tilsit
that the Count had arrived there and departed thence by extra post.
Beyond this point again all traces were lost. Accordingly it seemed to
the young advocate that they must seek for the soluti