e from his
seat and pulled up a chair for his visitor. "Sit down here. This thing
has frightened you and you are no longer young." When the servant
entered, the merchant told him to ask the head bookkeeper to come to the
inner office.

When this official appeared, his employer inquired: "When did Winkler
leave here day before yesterday?"

"At six o'clock, sir, as usual."

"He was here all day without interruption?"

"Yes, sir, with the exception of the usual luncheon hour."

"Did he have the handling of any money Monday?"

"No, sir."

"Thank you, Mr. Pokorny," said the merchant, handing his employee the
evening paper and pointing to the notice which had so interested him.

Pokorny read it, his face, like his employer's, growing more serious.
"It looks almost as if it must be Winkler, sir," he said, in a few
moments.

"We will soon find that out. I should like to go to the police station
myself with this woman; she is Winkler's landlady--but I think it will
be better for you to accompany her. They will ask questions about the
man which you will be better able to answer than I."

Pokorny bowed and left the room. Mrs. Klingmayer rose and was about
to follow, when the merchant asked her to wait a moment and inquired
whether Winkler owed her anything. "I am sorry that you should have had
this shock and the annoyances and trouble which will come of it, but I
don't want you to be out of pocket by it."

"No, he doesn't owe me anything," replied the honest old woman, shaking
her head. A few big tears rolled down over her withered cheeks, possibly
the only tears that were shed for the dead man under the elder-tree. But
even this sympathetic soul could find nothing to say in his praise. She
could feel pity for his dreadful death, but she could not assert that
the world had lost anything by his going out of it. As if saddened by
the impossibility of finding a single good word to say about the dead
man, she left the office with drooping head and lagging step.

Pokorny helped her into the cab that was already waiting before the
door. The office force had got wind of the fact that something unusual
had occurred and were all at the windows to see them drive off. The
three clerks who worked in the department to which Winkler belonged
gathered together to talk the matter over. They were none of them
particularly hit by it, but naturally they were interested in the
discovery in Hietzing, and equally naturally, they tried to