rousers. A few well-thumbed volumes of Russian authors could
not be expected to find a brilliant sale in Munich at a moment's notice.
He looked about, and he saw that there was nothing, and he turned very
pale.

"And yet, before midnight, it must be paid," he said. Then his face
brightened again. "Before midnight--but they will be here before then, of
course. Perhaps I may borrow the money for a few hours."

But in order to do this, or to attempt it, he must go out. What if his
friends arrived at the moment when he was out of the house?

"No," he said, consulting his imaginary time-table, "there is no train
now, for a couple of hours, at least."

He took up his hat and turned to go. It struck him, however, that to
provide against all possible accidents it would be as well to leave some
written word upon his table, and he took up a sheet of writing paper and a
pen. It was remarkable that there was a good supply of the former on the
table, and that the inkstand contained ink in a fluid state, as though the
Count were in the habit of using it daily. He wrote rapidly, in Russian.

"This line is to inform you that Count Skariatine is momentarily absent
from his lodging on a matter of urgent importance, connected with a
personal engagement. He will return as soon as possible and requests that
you will have the goodness to wait, if you should happen to arrive while
he is out."

He set the piece of notepaper upright, in a prominent position upon the
table, and exactly opposite to the door. He did not indeed recollect that
in the course of half an hour the room would be quite dark, and he was
quite satisfied that he had taken every reasonable precaution against
missing his visitors altogether. Once more he seized his hat, and a moment
later he was descending the long flights of stairs towards the street. As
he went, the magnitude of the sum of money he needed appalled him, and by
the time he stepped out upon the pavement into the fresh evening air, he
was in a state of excitement and anxiety which bordered on distraction.
His brain refused to act any longer, and he was utterly incapable of
thinking consecutively of anything, still less of solving a problem so
apparently incapable of solution as was involved in the question of
finding fifty marks at an hour's notice. It was practically of little use
to repeat the words "Fifty marks" incessantly and in an audible voice, to
the great surprise of the few pedestrians he met. It