"Not so difficult as you might desire, perhaps. I say that because you appear somewhat to resent my visit. If that is really the case, of course I will go."
"I don't care whether you go or stop; but if you've anything that you think worth telling, tell it. I'll listen. I presume you haven't come out of mere philanthropy, by the way."
"I have not. I make no pretence of the sort. If the warning I can give you is worth anything, I am not so rich as to throw money away."
"Out with it then." It was not only curiosity which prompted me to listen. It was probable that he was going to tell me some lurid incident of Lassen's past, and it was just as well to hear it. It was also quite possible that after all he might come from von Gratzen with the object of catching me tripping. His question suggested that.
"It was at Göttingen, I believe, that you made the acquaintance of Adolf Gossen?"
"I dare say, but I don't remember anything about it,"
"Ah, of course. You are the man without a memory. I have heard of your misfortune," he said, with a sly suggestive glance.
"And doubt it, eh? Well, suppose you get on with the story?"
He took the hint, and it turned out to be about the same pretty affair von Erstein had made so much of. It seemed, according to my visitor, that some one was in prison because of it; that his friends, whose names he gave, were furious; that they were looking high and low for me; and that if I remained in Berlin they would find me and wreak their vengeance in any way that came handy. He declared he knew where to find them and they were prepared to pay for the information of my whereabouts.
The thing was either a palpable plant or this fellow had come from von Erstein to try and frighten me out of the city.