It was not until the afternoon was considerably advanced that Dr. Hagenbach came in, and was greeted with reproaches on the part of the gentlemen present, because of his absence.
"Where in the world have you been hiding, Doctor?" cried the director, in rather a fault-finding tone. "Here we have been sitting all day immersed in care and anxiety, while, in all tranquillity of soul, you have been visiting your patients and not pretending to show your face!"
"I cannot prevent people from getting sick and dying on election-day," said Hagenbach gravely. "I had to go to Eckardstein this morning, and there they would have me stay, until all was over."
However much engrossed the gentlemen were by other things, this news aroused universal interest.
"Is the Count dead?" asked the director in surprise.
"He died two hours ago."
"That is a sudden turn of fortune's wheel in Count Victor's favor," remarked the upper-engineer. "Yesterday a poor, dependent lieutenant, and to-day proprietor of the great Eckardstein estate. Count Conrad had not been exactly kind to his younger brother, I believe."
"No; but nevertheless he was as affectionate as possible, at the last.--And now, gentlemen, I trust that I have apologized sufficiently for my absence, and sincerely hope that I have not been sensibly missed. How goes the reckoning? Well, I hope."
"Not so particularly well, either," muttered the upper-engineer. "The reports from the country districts are satisfactory, but in town, the Socialists evidently have the whip-hand of us."
"Well, we were prepared for that from the beginning," remarked Winning, the chief of the technical bureau. "Odensburg gives the casting-vote, and with that we are sure of a majority."