“‘I am sorry I cannot oblige you,’ I replied. ‘I am flattered by the lady’s preference, but having one wife already, I fear I must decline taking a second; and as for the plates, please explain what you mean.’
“The answer to this flippant speech was a blow on the face, which immediately sent the blood streaming on the floor.
“‘You’ll remember insulting the sister of Louis Orloff! Here, baron, let us gag him, and search; he will be raising an alarm presently.’
“They thrust a piece of rope between my teeth, compressing my windpipe to make me open my mouth; and there I sat helpless, whilst they turned out the contents of my desk and drawers, not forgetting my cash box, which was opened by a key taken from my vest pocket, and the contents appropriated.
“Knowing that the two scraps of paper I had found in the waste-paper basket and placed in my drawer must have reference to their visit, I watched very anxiously when they opened it.
“But they escaped notice, and I felt that I had got some clue to the mystery, even if these men escaped; and I had quite determined that they should not escape, for I was insecurely bound, and had been working hard to get my right hand free, and, thanks to having a very narrow one, I now found myself able to slip it through the loop which encircled the wrist; but I ’bided my time,’ for I saw that a false move might bring a bullet through my head.
“‘De plates is in ze oder room, Carl Brunton, mon ami,’ said the baron, smiling, and patting my shoulder. ‘Vy not say? Vy shoot we you? You do dem so well, ve no get any like dem. And you use dem yourself, and den, Ach Gott, you upset de cart of de apple.’
“‘Yes,’ I thought, ‘and it’s odd to me if I don’t upset your cart of de apple before long.’
“‘In dere; in back room?’ asked the Baron, with another amiable smile.
“I said ‘yes,’ with my eyes.