ace, unless it concerned _me_? I am sure of his words, for
they have been in my ears ever since. Can there be anything bearing on
them, in the keeping of this old idiot? Anything to repair my fortunes,
and blacken his memory? He dwelt upon my earliest remembrances, that
night at Basle. Why, unless he had a purpose in it?"

Maitre Voigt's two largest he-goats were butting at him to butt him out
of the place, as if for that disrespectful mention of their master. So
he got up and left the place. But he walked alone for a long time on the
border of the lake, with his head drooped in deep thought.

Between seven and eight next morning, he presented himself again at the
office. He found the notary ready for him, at work on some papers which
had come in on the previous evening. In a few clear words, Maitre Voigt
explained the routine of the office, and the duties Obenreizer would be
expected to perform. It still wanted five minutes to eight, when the
preliminary instructions were declared to be complete.

"I will show you over the house and the offices," said Maitre Voigt, "but
I must put away these papers first. They come from the municipal
authorities, and they must be taken special care of."

Obenreizer saw his chance, here, of finding out the repository in which
his employer's private papers were kept.

"Can't I save you the trouble, sir?" he asked. "Can't I put those
documents away under your directions?"

Maitre Voigt laughed softly to himself; closed the portfolio in which the
papers had been sent to him; handed it to Obenreizer.

"Suppose you try," he said. "All my papers of importance are kept
yonder."

He pointed to a heavy oaken door, thickly studded with nails, at the
lower end of the room. Approaching the door, with the portfolio,
Obenreizer discovered, to his astonishment, that there were no means
whatever of opening it from the outside. There was no handle, no bolt,
no key, and (climax of passive obstruction!) no keyhole.

"There is a second door to this room?" said Obenreizer, appealing to the
notary.

"No," said Maitre Voigt. "Guess again."

"There is a window?"

"Nothing of the sort. The window has been bricked up. The only way in,
is the way by that door. Do you give it up?" cried Maitre Voigt, in high
triumph. "Listen, my good fellow, and tell me if you hear nothing
inside?"

Obenreizer listened for a moment, and started back from the door.

"I know!" he exclaimed. "I h