But I knew his indifference was only assumed to cover his chagrin.
"The news is that the greatest haste is now imperative, or everything will be lost. The Duke Marx must be back in Munich to-night or at latest to-morrow. The whole city is in an uproar, and if the duke is not back the ill consequences may be irretrievable. Moreover, I have news of action from Berlin."
"You mean you wish to pull the wires at once for an agitation in favor of your duke, I suppose, but dare not until you know he is at liberty and able to come forward. A very pretty dilemma," and I smiled. "I am in luck, it seems. But now what of this Landsberg business? The countess is there. What have you done?"
"I have wired to our leader there, Major Gessler, to expect you to take away the countess; and I have written you an authority to him that will do all you need. Give him that—you will know him, for you saw him last night when you visited the town-house of Herr Schemmell—and that very moment the countess will be placed in your hands."
"Good!" I cried gladly, my blood warming at the thought of Minna being again in my charge. "But you know that von Nauheim has gone to Landsberg."
A frown crossed his face, but with an impatient wave of the hand he exclaimed:
"He can do nothing. Now as to your part. As soon as the countess is in your care again you will hand to Gessler an authority to set the Duke Marx at liberty?"
"Yes," I replied after a moment's consideration.
"Then the sooner you are en route the better," he said, rising as he spoke. "I have no more to say to you. We part as——?"
"As we met—opponents, Baron Heckscher," I answered promptly; and as soon as he had gone I hurried back to Praga to tell him what had occurred. Within a few minutes we were driving rapidly on our way to Landsberg.