"Certainly," he returned, smiling. "Can I be of any assistance?"
"No, thank you. No. I have some urgent business that will not wait another second."
A minute after that I had left the palace, and was hurrying as fast as horses could drag me to Minna to tell her the brilliant news.
CHAPTER XXX
THE END
When I reached Minna's house, I had an experience that at first amused me. I could not, of course, any longer treat the house as my own, nor look on myself as having any right to enter, and I found the servants very reluctant to admit me at all, and it was only after some difficulty that I succeeded in getting shown into a room close to the door, while they said they would carry my message. I waited in some little fever of impatience, and when the delay had grown into minutes I began to wonder that Minna should take so coolly the fact of my return and the news she must know I should carry. I saw the explanation, however, when the door was opened and the Baroness Gratz sailed in, pompous and very angry.
"What can be your business here now?" she asked, staring at me through her eyeglass.
"I have come to see Minna," I replied, with an inclination to smile at her conduct.
"I am astounded that you should have the assurance to come here after your egregious imposture. Of course you do not expect to see her?"