me still owing to me, as well as all the deeds and papers which had
been produced as proofs after the death of Count Moritz,--all these
important papers which I had discovered after a long troublesome
search, and had in my hands but a short time before, had again
disappeared. I had always kept them carefully locked up, and it was my
intention to travel to town and deliver them to my solicitor in person,
as on them the recovery of my estates depended. They were gone; and
much as I meditated and reflected, I could not discover, nor even find
a trace of the way in which they had been purloined. When at length I
communicated my anxiety to my wife, she did not seem surprised, and
told me calmly, 'Can you still doubt? I have no doubt as to what has
become of them. Ernestine has profited by some moment of your absence
when you might have left your escritoire open, or some other
forgetfulness, to take the papers away.'

"'Not possible!' I cried with horror. 'Possible?' she repeated. 'What
is impossible to her?'

"As these documents were wanting, our long standing law-suit proceeded
but slowly, and I felt sure that I must lose it whenever it was
decided. I therefore availed myself of an opportunity which the court
afforded me, by proposing to quash it, that I might defer the decision
to some future period. Still I could not help questioning Ernestine
and informing her of my suspicions. I was horrorstruck at the manner
in which she heard me communicate a suspicion, which would have shocked
any innocent mind. When I had overcome my embarrassment and had
concluded, she burst out in such laughter that I lost all composure.
Recovering again, I urged her to reply, but she only said, with a
sarcastic coldness, 'My dear brother-in-law, there are here only two
cases possible, as you must yourself see, notwithstanding your
short-sightedness, namely, that I am either guilty or innocent. Is it
not so? If I have committed the robbery, I must have been induced by
weighty reasons, or goaded to such an act by malice, or something else.
And then I ought to say: yes! I have done it, pray do not take it
amiss. Now you must confess that this would be more than stupid. If I
were a fool I might have done it without any particular intention,--may
be to light the kitchen fire with them; or because I was pleased with
the red seals, and might now say: there, take these pretty papers back,
considering they have some value for the dear coun