"What can I say, Herr von Ernau," cried the delighted Storting, "except that I am honoured in being the instrument of such generosity?"
"After all, there is really not much honour, my dear fellow, in being made accomplice in a forgery. But we must contrive to answer all that to our consciences. Go now and get ready to start. In an hour you shall receive Herr Simon's letter. You will be obliged to suppress the envelope, which may not bear the correct stamp."
"No need even of that, for I received a letter from New Orleans yesterday, and its envelope will serve your purpose admirably. It followed me to Plagnitz from my former place of abode, and will explain my desire to leave here as soon as possible: of course I am in a hurry to hand over her property to Frau von Osternau."
"Bravo! and now to business."
Two hours later Storting was on his way to the nearest railway-station, with a letter from Carl Johann Simon, New Orleans, Louisiana, U. S. A., and an order upon the banking-house of A. C. Ernau & Co., Berlin, in his pocket.
CHAPTER XXVII.
[A MISCHIEVOUS COQUETTE].
The morning after Storting's departure, Egon received a visit from the vivacious little Ostrowko doctor, who declared that he could not be responsible for the consequences if his patient persisted in neglecting his instructions. "I distinctly told you, my dear Herr von Ernau, that rest was all that you required, that rest you must have, and what has been your course? Instead of remaining where you certainly were very well off, and with a charming châtelaine to attend to your every wish, you jolt off over here, along an infernal road, a few hours after I leave you, and, I make no doubt, purpose to inspect your estate to-day. Not at all, not at all, my dear Herr von Ernau. You have had a shock to your system. Great as was your escape, 'tis no joke falling from the Dombrowker Pass, and you must be quiet. You've a fine library here, and a magnificent grand piano: sit still, read some trashy romance, and play Offenbach for the next week, and leave your estate in the hands of your admirable inspector,--Storting is his name? What! he has gone to Berlin for a time? Well, the younger fellow--I forget his name--is quite competent, with old Sieveking to direct. I am going to see that, now we have got you here at Plagnitz, we keep you from any ill effects of your accident, or you'll be saying that the climate does not agree with you, and you'll be running off to Berlin. Aha! I know you young fellows. I was young myself not a hundred years ago."
And he rattled on, until he had indeed fully convinced his patient that rest was an admirable remedy for many ailments.
Egon was doomed, then, to a time of inaction, and this just when he was most eager to enter upon the supervision of his affairs. Still, there might be much to interest him in these first days at home, and he resigned himself with the best grace that he could to refrain from riding, driving, or any long walks for a while, according to the doctor's orders.