Under a Charm. Vol. I

An exclamation of pain and one of alarm resounded in the same instant. As Gretchen violently thrust open the door, a stranger, who at that very moment had grasped the handle from outside, struck by the sudden rebound, staggered back several paces and would have fallen, if some one who was with him had not caught and supported him.

"Good gracious, what is it?" cried the girl.

"I beg your pardon a thousand times," said a timid voice in a tone of great courtesy.

Gretchen looked up in surprise at the man who excused himself so politely for having nearly been knocked down, while yet in the act of raising himself to an upright posture. Before she had time for an answer, the other stranger drew near and addressed himself to her.

"We wish to see Herr Frank. He is at home, we hear."

"Papa is not here just at this moment, but he will be back directly," replied Gretchen, to whom this late and unexpected visit came as a great relief, offering her the means of escape from her difficulty. Without it, she must either have committed the rudeness of leaving the Assessor alone during her father's absence, or have been compelled to stay with him to keep him company. Instead, therefore, of showing the new-comers into the agent's study, as was customary, she led them straightway into the sitting-room.

"Two gentlemen who wish to speak to papa," said she, by way of explanation, to the astonished Assessor, who looked up and rose as the strangers entered and bowed to him, while the girl, kindly offering to let her father know, went out again for that purpose.

She had just sent off one of the maids, and was about to return to the room, when, to her amazement, the Assessor appeared in the dimly lighted hall, and inquired hastily whether Herr Frank had been sent for. Gretchen answered in the affirmative.

The Assessor came up to her, and said in a whisper–

"Fräulein Margaret, those are the men."

"What men?" asked she, in surprise.

"The two suspicious characters. I have them. They are in the trap."

"But they are not Poles, not a bit of it," objected the girl.

"They are the two individuals who passed me in the post-chaise," he replied, obstinately. "The same who, later on, behaved in a way calculated to arouse suspicion. At all events, I shall take my measures. I shall interrogate, and if necessary arrest them."

"But need it all be done in our house?" asked Gretchen, in a very ungracious tone.

"The duty of my office requires it!" said the Assessor, with dignity. "First of all, the entrance must be secured, to prevent any possible attempt at flight. I shall lock the hall door." So saying, he turned the key in the lock and drew it out.

"What are you thinking of?" protested Gretchen. "Papa won't be able to get in when he comes back."

"We shall post the maid at the door, and give her the key," whispered the little gentleman, who by this time was in a fever of official zeal. "She will open when Herr Frank comes, and at the same time call in the men to guard the door. Who knows whether the delinquents will surrender easily?"

"But how do you know they are delinquents at all? Suppose you were to make a mistake?"

"Fräulein Margaret, you have not the eye of a detective," declared the Assessor, with conscious superiority. "I am a good physiognomist, and I tell you I never yet saw two faces on which 'conspirator' was stamped more legibly, more unmistakably. I am not to be deceived, however pure their German may be. For the present, I will merely subject them to an interrogation, until Herr Frank arrives. It is dangerous, no doubt, to let such men get an inkling that they are found out–extremely dangerous, particularly when one is alone with them; but duty demands it!"

"I will go with you," said Gretchen, valiantly.

"Thank you," said the Assessor, as solemnly as though the girl had resolved on going to the scaffold with him. "Thank you. Now let us act."

He called the maid, gave her the required instructions, and then returned to the parlour, Gretchen following him. She was naturally courageous, and felt quite as much curiosity as uneasiness about the issue. The two strangers had evidently not the smallest notion of the storm about to burst over their heads. They imagined themselves in perfect security. The younger of the two, who was a remarkably tall man, towering more than a head above his companion, was pacing the room with folded arms, while the elder, a person of slight build, with pale but agreeable features, had obediently taken the place offered him, and was sitting harmlessly enough in the armchair.

The Assessor assumed an air of authority. Convinced of the importance of the moment, and conscious that the eyes of his beloved were upon him, he rose to the measure of his task. He looked the judicial mind personified, as he stepped up to the two 'individuals.'

"I have not yet introduced myself to you, gentlemen," he began, courteous as yet. "Government Assessor Hubert, of L–."

The persons addressed could have been no novices in the art of conspiracy, for they did not even change colour at the mention of his official quality. The elder man rose, bowed in silence, but with much politeness, and then sat down again. The younger merely inclined his head slightly, and said in a careless tone, "Very happy, I'm sure.

"Might I in my turn inquire the names of these gentlemen?" continued Hubert.

"What makes you ask?" said the younger stranger, indifferently.

"I wish to know them."

"I am sorry for that. We don't wish to tell."

The Assessor nodded as much as to say: "So I thought." "I am connected with the police department of L–," he said, significantly.

"Very agreeable position," said the stranger, his eyes just glancing at the official with an indifference positively offensive, and then wandering off and fixing themselves on the young girl, who had retreated to the window.

For a moment Hubert was disconcerted. They must indeed be case-hardened conspirators! Even the mention of the L– police could extract from them no sign of alarm, though by this time some inkling of their fate must have dawned upon them. But there were means of overcoming their obduracy. The interrogation proceeded.

"About two hours ago you passed me in a post-chaise?"

This time the younger man made no answer. He seemed to have had enough of the conversation; but the elder replied civilly, "Certainly, we noticed you in your carriage."

"At the last station you left the post-chaise and continued your journey on foot. You were, according to your own statement, bound for Wilicza–you avoided the high-road, and took a side-path across the fields." The Assessor was sternly judicial now again, as he hurled out these accusations one after the other, in a manner which ought to have been crushing, and which did indeed produce some effect. The elder of the two conspirators showed signs of uneasiness, and the younger, on whom the lynx eye of the official had at once fixed as the more dangerous of the pair, went up quickly to his companion, and laid his hand protectingly as it were on the back of his chair.

"We put on our coats, too, when it began to get cool, and left a pair of gloves at the post-house by mistake," said the latter, with unconcealed irony. "Perhaps you would like to add these two facts to your interesting notes on our conduct and deportment."

"Sir, that is not a tone in which to address a representative of the Government," exclaimed Hubert, angrily.

The stranger shrugged his shoulders and turned to the window.

"You leave us quite to ourselves, Fräulein. Will you not come out and deliver us by your presence from this gentleman's unrefreshing discourse?"

The Assessor was seized with a just wrath; such boldness was more than he could bear. The steward might come in at any moment now, he knew, so he threw to the winds his previous caution, and replied in a lofty tone–

"I fear there is much before you that you will find unrefreshing. In the first place you will give me your names, deliver up your papers. I require it, I insist upon it. In a word, you are suspicious characters."

That blow told. The pale gentleman started up with every appearance of trepidation. "Good Heavens, what do you say!"

"Ah, so the consciousness of guilt makes itself felt at last, does it?" said Hubert, triumphantly. "You winced yourself," he asserted, turning to the other, and looking up at him with an authoritative air. "Do not attempt to deny it. I saw your face twitch."

The young man's face had twitched, no doubt, in the most singular manner at mention of the words "suspicious characters;" and now, as he bent down to his companion, the corners of his mouth worked quite perceptibly.

"Why do you not clear up the matter?" asked his friend, in a low beseeching tone.

"Because it amuses me," was the reply, returned in a voice as low.

"No whispering here," interrupted the Assessor. "No fresh conspiring in my very presence–that I forbid. Once again, your name! Will you give me an answer?"

"Yes, we will," said the younger stranger, drawing himself up. "So you look upon us as conspirators?"

"And traitors to the State," added Hubert, emphatically.