however, obliged us to
promise that we would not betray him, as he said he was preparing a
capital joke to play off on the Counsellor.

"We all met at the table d'hote earlier than usual, and besieged the
windows. An old tumble down carriage, drawn by two blind steeds, came
crawling down the street; it stopped before the hotel. There's
Hasentreffer, there's Hasentreffer, was echoed by every mouth; and we
were filled with extravagant merriment when we saw the little man get
out, neatly powdered, dressed in an iron grey surtout with a huge
meerschaum in hand. An escort of at least ten servants followed him
in, and in this guise he entered the dining-room.

"We sat down at once. I have seldom laughed as much as I did then; for
the old chap insisted, with the greatest coolness, that he came direct
from Carrel, and that he had six days before been extremely well
entertained at the Swan Inn at Frankfort. Barighi must have
disappeared before the dessert, for when the Counsellor left the
table, and the other guests, full of curiosity, imitated his example,
Barighi was nowhere to be seen.

"The Counsellor took his seat at the window; we all followed his
example and watched his movements. The house opposite seemed desolate
and uninhabited. Grass grew on the threshold, the shutters were
closed, and on some of them birds seemed to have built their nests.

"'A fine house that, opposite,' said the old man to our host, who kept
standing behind him in the third position. 'Who does it belong to?'

"'To the Counsellor of State, Hasentreffer, at your Excellency's
service.'

"'Ah, indeed! that must be the same one that was a fellow-student with me,'
exclaimed he; 'he would never forgive me if I was not to inform him that
I was here.' He opened the window,--'Ha-asentreffer--Hasentreffer!' cried
he, in a hoarse voice. But who can paint our terror, when opposite, in
the empty house, which we knew was firmly locked and bolted, a
window-shutter was slowly raised, a window opened, and out of it
peered the Counsellor of State, Hasentreffer, in his chintz
morning-gown and white nightcap, under which a few thin grey locks
were visible; this, this exactly, was his usual morning costume. Down
to the minutest wrinkle on the pallid visage, the figure across the
street was precisely the same as the one that stood by our side. But
a panic seized us, when the figure in the morning-gown called out
across the street, in just the same hoarse voice, '