Herr von Osternau looked rather dubiously at her as she spoke, but he said nothing, only continued the reading of his letter: "I could scarcely credit this when I heard it this afternoon from an acquaintance. Yesterday there was no doubt but that his body had been found in the Spree. It had, to be sure, been too long in the water to allow of the features being recognized, but Ernau's body-servant identified the summer suit of the dead man as positively his master's, and there was in one of the pockets a small silver card-case, which both the servant and the Councillor recognized as young Ernau's. The Councillor was so convinced that the body was that of his son that he arranged an imposing funeral, at which half the aristocratic society of Berlin was present; and yet here was the dead man alive and well. I went directly to Sastrow for further information.
"From him I received confirmation of the incredible report. Herr von Ernau did really return yesterday from a tour among the mountains. He employed his time this morning in visiting his acquaintances, apparently to convince them that he is alive. He has nothing to say of where he has been or why he left Berlin so abruptly, but he ridicules his own splendid funeral and thanks the mourners profusely for their sympathy. He is as reckless and extravagant as ever. Werner Massenburg, who has just seen Sastrow, gave him all these particulars. I shall go to him again to-morrow, when I may have more to tell you, but for the present the subject must give place to certain revelations I have for you concerning the redoubtable Herr Pigglewitch, who I was quite certain was what he proves to be,--an adventurer and deceiver."
"What a shameful calumny!" Lieschen exclaimed, indignantly.
"Hush, my child!" her father rejoined, gravely. "I neither can nor will believe that your cousin's harsh expressions are justifiable, but I hardly know what to think. Listen to what Albrecht says:
"You forbade me to put the police upon the fellow's traces, and I obeyed you, but you did not forbid my instituting inquiries as to his previous life and circumstances. This I have done, and as I have an acquaintance who is one of the superior officers of the police force, I easily learned from him the following particulars: The man calling himself Pigglewitch, who brought you a letter from Herr Director Kramser, and who lived so long at Castle Osternau, has no right to the name he bore there, and must be a mere adventurer.
"I remember perfectly well that the so-called Candidate Pigglewitch arrived at Castle Osternau on the 6th of July, and on that very day the real Pigglewitch is proved to have been in Berlin. He had informed his lodging-house keeper--a woman by the name of Wiebe--that he had obtained a situation as tutor, and that he was to be at Osternau, in Silesia, on the 6th, but after leaving Berlin on the 5th he returned on the evening of the 6th and took possession of his old quarters. Here he stayed for several days, expecting, as he told his hostess, a letter containing money, which would enable him to sail for America, and in fact on the 9th of July a letter did arrive, addressed to Herr Gottlieb Pigglewitch, and containing a large sum of money, some four thousand marks, Frau Wiebe says. She further states that Pigglewitch was overjoyed at the arrival of the letter, and told her that he should spend a few days longer in Berlin to take some recreation before sailing; that he left home early in the morning and returned late at night until the 12th of July, when he went from the house at eleven in the forenoon, and has not since been heard of. As there were no charges against him, and as it was more than probable that he had sailed for America, no search was made for him. Thus much at least is certain, that the real Pigglewitch was in Berlin from the 6th to the 12th of July, and that therefore the man who was at Castle Osternau must have been an adventurer and impostor, wearing an assumed name.
"The conclusions to be drawn from this fact I leave to you. If the sham Pigglewitch has returned from his journey, give him this letter to read. I am curious to know whether he will defend himself against the charges it contains, and whether you, Cousin Fritz, will still refuse to call in the aid of the police. I have no I doubt that they would find in his possession skeleton keys and a considerable sum of money, unless he has been prudent enough to conceal them during his absence from the castle.
"Day after to-morrow I shall return to Osternau, and in the mean time I may perhaps learn something further of Herr von Ernau and of the sham Pigglewitch.
"With great regard, faithfully yours,
"Albrecht Von Osternau."