He looked round anxiously, then he gazed into the count's calm face, and said, with a constrained smile:

"You jest, sir?"

"Certainly not," said the count; "you will have the goodness to listen to me quietly and without interruption, and I do not doubt that you will perfectly agree with me."

Herr Balzer seemed not to know what he thought of this strange calm man, but he bent his head as an intimation that he was willing to hear.

In the simplest way in the world the count proceeded:

"Your affairs, sir, are in a desperate state; you are not only a bankrupt, but you have almost from the commencement of your financial existence only concealed your old debts by incurring larger ones, a course which necessarily would bring you to complete ruin in the end."

Herr Balzer looked at the count in great surprise.

"The moment of unavoidable ruin has come," he said, "I am in possession of a number of demands upon you, which if presented must infallibly overthrow your credit. Beside this, your position is most unhappily compromised, since you have, to save yourself, or rather to stave off the time of inevitable ruin, pursued the plan of forging various bills of exchange."

"Count," cried Herr Balzer in a voice whose impudence ill concealed his fear, "I----"

With a proud movement the count imposed silence.

He drew from his pocket several bills of exchange.

"You see," he said, turning them over, "the forged bills are in my hands, a prison will be your destination if I give these into the hands of a magistrate."

Every trace of self-confidence had disappeared from Herr Balzer's common-looking face. "With bewildered fear he looked at the count without speaking a word.

"You are a lost man," he said coldly, "and if you have a spark of honour left, you will prefer death to the future before you."

Herr Balzer raised his hands in speechless agony, as if imploring the count for mercy.

He looked at him severely and proceeded:

"I will not, however, destroy you, I will give you the opportunity of beginning a new life."

A ray of joy shone in the exchange-agent's eyes; he did not yet understand, but he began to hope.

"Count," he cried, "command----"

"Hear first what I demand; upon your implicit obedience your future will depend."

Herr Balzer listened anxiously.

"You will go at once to Gmunden," said the count, "from thence you will write a letter to your wife, in which you will say that you cannot bear the disgrace of bankruptcy, and that you prefer death; you will then take care that your hat, your stick, and a glove or pocket-handkerchief are found floating on the water, where the lake is the deepest. After this is accomplished, you will cut off your beard, put on a wig, and go to Salzburg, where at this address a certain person will provide you with a pa.s.sport and the sum of five thousand gulden."

He gave Herr Balzer a card with some writing upon it.

"You will then," he continued, "proceed to Hamburg, and embark in the first ship for New York, and there you will go to those who will be pointed out to you by the person in Salzburg. They will give you every information, and a.s.sist you in commencing a new life, if you forget your name and the past. Remember that you are watched, and that you will be destroyed if you are not perfectly obedient!"

Herr Balzer's face had at first only expressed utter amazement, then a look of scorn and wicked satisfaction pa.s.sed over his features, finally he gazed thoughtfully before him.

"Do you accept my proposals of safety?" asked the count.

"And my bills of exchange?" asked Balzer, looking ashamed.

"I have bought them, they will stay in my pocketbook," replied the count.

"I accept," said Herr Balzer, "you shall be satisfied with me. But," he added, with an extremely repulsive smile, "five thousand gulden is not much--you value my wife at very little."

"You shall receive the same sum when you arrive in New York," said the count coldly, "if you obey me implicitly."

"I will go," said Herr Balzer. "May I not," he added with a look of grief that was badly acted, "bid my wife farewell?"

"No," replied the count, "she shall believe you are really dead, that is my express will; she shall be free, even in her conscience."

Herr Balzer turned to go.

"I shall expect news of you from Salzburg in three days!" said the count. "And now," he added solemnly and earnestly, "thank heaven, and make use of the mercy that offers you a new life!"

He held out his hand to him, and mildness and kindness shone in his eyes.

Herr Balzer bowed and left the room.

"We are now ready," said the count, as soon as he was alone with the abbe; "be prepared to start in a week's time."

CHAPTER XXVII.

HIETZING.

The large and extensive Castle of Schonbrunn is beautifully situated, it is surrounded by an enormous and ancient park with artistically arranged ruins, with allegorical fountains, with deep shady groves, and sunny level lawns; behind the castle, airily perched on the summit of the height, is the triumphal arch called the Gloriette, from whence the great Empress Maria Theresa could behold Vienna, which with the lofty tower of St. Stephen appears upon the horizon.

Near to this imperial residence, full of remembrances of the Empress Queen and of Napoleon I., (whose eagles may still be seen upon the two obelisks at the princ.i.p.al entrance,) and around the s.p.a.cious park, lies pretty Hietzing, that favourite summer retreat of the Viennese. Villa adjoins villa, and in the beautiful summer afternoons all the fashionable world of Vienna streams out to hear the concerts in the large gardens of the "Neue Welt," or of "Dommayer's Casino," and to walk in the shady alleys of the park of Schonbrunn, which is always open to the public.

Since the time when Napoleon I. fixed his head-quarters in Maria Theresa's favourite residence, and caused the "old guard" to parade in the s.p.a.cious court of the castle, Hietzing had not been so animated or so full as in the autumn of 1866.

The Saxon army was encamped in and around Hietzing; King John inhabited the Stockl, that small palace at the entrance of the park which Maria Theresa had built for her celebrated physician van Swieten; and the King of Hanover, who on his first arrival in Vienna had resided at the house of his amba.s.sador, General von Knesebeck, had now retired to the Duke of Brunswick's villa at the farther end of the pretty village, from which it was separated by a long high wall, which concealed the wonderful art treasures and whimsical arrangements in the park and the interior of the house.

The Saxon troops, the suites of the two princes, the equipages of the arch-dukes and of the Austrian aristocracy, who vied with each other in attentions to the kings who were now suffering from the effects of the Austrian policy, filled the streets of Hietzing in a varied and brilliant manner; the inhabitants of Vienna streamed out more numerously than ever, and if anyone had cause to be satisfied with the catastrophe of 1866 it was certainly the possessors of the "Neue Welt,"

and "Dommayer's Casino."

One morning in that remarkable and eventful time, two persons met in the large central salon of the Brunswick villa.

The walls of this apartment were hung with Chinese tapestry, the embroidered figures of the inhabitants of that great empire, with faces exactly resembling those painted on their china, looked down complacently from the walls, the whole of the furniture was of costly Chinese work, life-sized paG.o.das stood in the corners, Chinese mats of the finest rice-straw covered the floors; the large gla.s.s doors were open and let the mild air blow in from the well-kept park. All the curiosities in this salon, which gave it rather the appearance of a museum than of a dwelling-room, did not attract one look from the two men who paced up and down, with sad and mournful faces.

One of these persons was Count Alfred Wedel, whom we met with before in Hanover during the catastrophe of the month of June. He wore his undress court uniform, a blue coat with a scarlet collar; beside him was a small and delicate-looking man of about thirty-six years of age, with thin fair hair and a long light moustache; his features expressed great energy, and quick lively intelligence. He wore the uniform of a captain of infantry in the Hanoverian army.