"But he was coming back in spite of it," pointed out Nessa.
"Because of his spy work, Nessa. He was a born spy. He wormed out a lot of things in America; and the Secret Service people, seeing how good he was at the work, sent him to England and, after what he found out there, told him to come home and promised to overlook the other affair. That'll explain why I wasn't overjoyed to see you," she added to me.
I nodded. "And explain probably why von Gratzen thinks it worth while to send me back to England to recover my memory."
"Very possibly—if he really believes you've lost it, that is. Oscar says its the reason, and he ought to know. He laughed at it all; but it's no mere laughing matter."
"Better to laugh than worry," said I.
"Now tell us all about your Anna," said Nessa, who refused to consider the thing serious.
I gave them a more detailed account of the interview and answered a heap of questions about Anna, describing the change of front she had shown, the way in which she had been led to confess about the child, and my opinion that von Erstein was at the back of it.
"I shall never forget that scene in the Thiergarten to-day," laughed Nessa. "You did look so thunderstruck."
"Nothing to what I felt, I can tell you. I never felt such a fool in my life. Of course I couldn't tell whether she was in earnest or not."
"Nessa laughed and was giggling about it all the way home."