I clapped my hands to the arms of my chair and started forward as if intensely surprised. "Do you mean that my sister has got married without my knowledge? For Heaven's sake, what are you saying?"
He gave me a dry look. "You are overdoing it, Herr Bastable. I mean that the lady who has just gone out is Fräulein Korper, otherwise von Ringheim. Is that clear?"
"Oh," I said with a sigh of relief. "Is that all? Then why the devil didn't you arrest her?"
The blunt question drew another laugh out of him. "I need not tell you, for you know. So long as we are certain where to find her---- But Herr Feldermann told you. I have not come on her affairs, however; nor to refer to what happened the other day at the station."
"I am always delighted to see you--provided of course you don't come to arrest me."
"I trust I shall never have to do that, but you will do well to be cautious in your hospitality."
"Not with you, I hope," I laughed. "At all events unofficially."
"I am here unofficially now, and will go so far as to warn you that an official visit from one of us has been very seriously considered. Berlin, and indeed the whole of Germany, is considered very unhealthy for some foreigners at this season, you know."
"I appreciate your friendship, Dormund; but I shan't bolt. I shall be found here whenever I'm wanted. I shall stick it out."
"It is more serious than you think perhaps; but it is of course for you to decide. Well, now, I have come to-day to act the part of a mutual friend, Heir Bastable; from Lieutenant von Bernhoff. He feels very deeply the breach that has occurred."