At this moment a clerk brought some papers into the room. Jacob Hartrich looked over them, and handed them, with a roll of notes, to the Advocate, who rose and prepared to go.
"Have you a permanent address?" asked the banker. "We take up our quarters at once," replied the Advocate, "at the House of White Shadows."
Jacob Hartrich gazed at him in consternation. "Christian Almer's villa! He made no mention of it to me."
"It was an arrangement entered into some time since. I have a letter from Master Pierre Lamont informing me that the villa is ready for us."
"It has been uninhabited for years, except by servants who have been kept there to preserve it from falling into decay. There are strange stories connected with that house."
"I have heard as much, but have not inquired into them. The probability is that they arise from credulity or ignorance, the foundation of all superstition."
With that remark the Advocate took his leave.
CHAPTER V
[FRITZ THE FOOL]
As the little wooden clock in the parlour of the inn of The Seven Liars struck the hour of five, Fritz the Fool ran through the open door, from which an array of bottles and glasses could be seen, and cried: