great hurry, striking his breast in a sort of ecstasy.
We were surprised and almost frightened to see him so strangely excited,
and rose to meet him, but he running up to us almost forced us to embrace
him, which we did willingly.

"But what is the matter, papa dear?" said Esther, "you surprise me more
than I can say."

"Sit down beside me, my dear children, and listen to your father and your
best friend. I have just received a letter from one of the secretaries of
their high mightinesses informing me that the French ambassador has
demanded, in the name of the king his master, that the Comte St. Germain
should be delivered over, and that the Dutch authorities have answered
that His Most Christian Majesty's requests shall be carried out as soon
as the person of the count can be secured. In consequence of this the
police, knowing that the Comte St. Germain was staying at the Etoile
d'Orient, sent to arrest him at midnight, but the bird had flown. The
landlord declared that the count had posted off at nightfall, taking the
way to Nimeguen. He has been followed, but there are small hopes of
catching him up.

"It is not known how he can have discovered that a warrant existed
against him, or how he continued to evade arrest."

"It is not known;" went an M. d'O----, laughing, "but everyone guesses
that M. Calcoen, the same that wrote to me, let this friend of the French
king's know that he would be wanted at midnight, and that if he did not
get the key of the fields he would be arrested. He is not so foolish as
to despise a piece of advice like that. The Dutch Government has
expressed its sorrow to M. d'Afri that his excellence did not demand the
arrest of St. Germain sooner, and the ambassador will not be astonished
at this reply, as it is like many others given on similar occasions.

"The wisdom of the oracle has been verified, and I congratulate myself on
having seized its meaning, for we were on the point of giving him a
hundred thousand florins on account, which he said he must have
immediately. He gave us in pledge the finest of the crown diamonds, and
this we still retain. But we will return it to him an demand, unless it
is claimed by the ambassador. I have never seen a finer stone.

"And now, my children, you see what I owe to the oracle. On the Exchange
the whole company can do nothing but express their gratitude to me. I am
regarded as the most prudent and most farseeing man in Holland. To you,
my dear childr