"Very good indeed. Clever work, in the time," said von Gratzen. "Of course he understands that the finished facsimile must be in gold and will take to pieces in the same way as the original."
"Oh, yes. He has a number of small moulds of the individual parts. Would you like to see them, sir?" replied von Welten.
"Not necessary at all. He knows his job. That'll do, von Welten. Leave the real thing with me;" and he picked it up and examined it with a gloating and almost satanic smile, as von Welten left the room. "At last!" he murmured under his breath.
Then he wrapped it up and handed it to me. "You see how I trust you, my boy. I know you won't fail me, too. And now you had better go. Just a last word. As soon as you've returned that to him disappear for a time. Leave Berlin and go, oh anywhere; the farther the better for the time; and don't on any account come to me again until I send for you."
Utterly mystified by all this, I ventured: "But can I go away without a permit?"
Another of his queer inscrutable smiles greeted this. "Perhaps it would be better; but you haven't any too much time to spare—if you're going to catch von Erstein," he added as an afterthought. He rang his bell and wrote furiously. "Get that stamped officially at once. As quick as you can," he told von Welten, who hurried away. "He'll give it you as you go out," he said to me, rising and gripping my hand. "And now, good-bye, my boy—for a time at any rate. You're a good lad, and whatever happens, if you do what I've asked, I'll always stand by you."
Von Welten met me with the permit as I left the room. "You're in luck to have got on the right side of the chief in this way," he said, as we shook hands.
Were they all living enigmas? was my thought as I left the building, for von Welten's manner was as veiled and significant as his chief's. Did von Gratzen know that I had taken the tickets? Had he worded the letter I was to write to von Erstein in order to tell me that he knew my lost memory was a fraud? Did that remark, "You haven't any too much time to spare," refer to my having to catch the mail? He had qualified it by saying something about seeing von Erstein; but that had seemed to be just an afterthought.
It was beyond me; and I was even more astounded when I read the paper which von Welten had given me. It was much more than a mere permit. It amounted to an official authority that I was travelling on business of State; was to go where I would and when; that all assistance was to be given to me; and any inquiries were to be telegraphed straight to von Gratzen.
I was indeed lucky, as von Welten had declared. He little guessed what luck it was! Or did he? Was it all intended to make my path to the frontier clear?