"What is all this?" he angrily
demanded.

Without waiting for a reply he laid his hand rudely upon Fisher's arm
and pulled him away from the Baron. Fisher, more and more astonished,
made no resistance, but suffered himself to be led, or pushed, toward
the door. Dr. Rapperschwyll opened the door wide enough to give the
American exit, and then closed it with a vicious slam. A quick click
informed Fisher that the key had been turned in the lock.

II.

The next morning Fisher met Savitch coming from the Trinkhalle. The
Baron bowed with cold politeness and passed on. Later in the day a
valet de place handed to Fisher a small parcel, with the message: "Dr.
Rapperschwyll supposes that this will be sufficient." The parcel
contained two gold pieces of twenty marks.

Fisher gritted his teeth. "He shall have back his forty marks," he
muttered to himself, "but I will have his confounded secret in
return."

Then Fisher discovered that even a Polish countess has her uses in the
social economy.

Mrs. Fisher's table d'hote friend was amiability itself, when
approached by Fisher (through Fisher's wife) on the subject of the
Baron Savitch of Moscow. Know anything about the Baron Savitch? Of
course she did, and about everybody else worth knowing in Europe.
Would she kindly communicate her knowledge? Of course she would, and
be enchanted to gratify in the slightest degree the charming curiosity
of her Americaine. It was quite refreshing for a _blasee_ old woman,
who had long since ceased to feel much interest in contemporary
men, women, things and events, to encounter one so recently from
the boundless prairies of the new world as to cherish a piquant
inquisitiveness about the affairs of the grand monde. Ah! yes, she
would very willingly communicate the history of the Baron Savitch of
Moscow, if that would amuse her dear Americaine.

The Polish countess abundantly redeemed her promise, throwing in for
good measure many choice bits of gossip and scandalous anecdotes about
the Russian nobility, which are not relevant to the present narrative.
Her story, as summarized by Fisher, was this:

The Baron Savitch was not of an old creation. There was a mystery
about his origin that had never been satisfactorily solved in St.
Petersburg or in Moscow. It was said by some that he was a foundling
from the Vospitatelnoi Dom. Others believed him to be the
unacknowledged son of a certain illustrious personage nearly r