"I hear the Doctor intends to leave this city tomorrow," went on the Superintendent. "He will return at once to Switzerland, where he intends to spend the remaining years of his life."
"He is right," said the Baron. "A man who has lived so many years in exile can seldom or never feel at home again in his native land. The adopted country generally prevails over the old."
He spoke indifferently, as though his remarks applied to some stranger, of whose pardon he had accidentally heard. The Superintendent was not duped by this assumed composure, but, in spite of his keen powers of observation, he had not succeeded in piercing the ramparts with which this guarded and taciturn nature had fenced itself around, or to discover what position the Baron meant to take up with regard to the accusations lately brought against him.
A servant came in, bringing to the Governor a despatch which had just arrived from the capital--a great official document. Raven signed to the man to withdraw, and broke the seal, saying carelessly:
"You will excuse me for a minute?"
"Pray do not let me be any restraint, your Excellency," replied the Superintendent, politely; but, as he spoke, his eyes travelled with a peculiar curious gaze from the letter to its recipient.
Raven unfolded the despatch. Hardly had he cast a glance at its contents when he started violently. His face grew livid, and his right hand, closing on the paper, crushed it convulsively. A quiver of rage, or of pain, shook his mighty frame, and for a moment it seemed as though his emotion would master him.
"I hope you have received no unpleasant news," asked the police officer, with a well-feigned accent of sympathy.
The Baron looked up. He fixed his stern, searching eyes on the face of the man before him, whose rôle, since the circumstances of Brunnow's arrest, he had perfectly divined, and on whose features he now detected a slight derisive flicker, which showed his visitor was already acquainted with the contents of the document. That restored his strength, and brought back his composure.
"Surprising news, to say the least," he answered, laying the despatch aside. "But there will be time to attend to that later on. Pray proceed with what you were saying."