“Agathe!” he said, and his voice of command was strangely in contrast with the tone in which he had entreated the old man. “Go into the next room and wait!”
The girl vanished without a word. Kranz waited until she had closed the door, and then he turned once more to his superior.
“I implore Your Excellency to listen!” he said with a desperate gesture. “I stake my reputation upon it——”
The old man grunted scornfully.
“Your reputation!”
The dark eyes flashed.
“My reputation with you, Excellenz,” he corrected in a gentle voice of complete cynicism.
The old man stared at him.
“Well, go on!” he said brutally, after a short pause which was eloquent of his appraisement. He cleaned his pince-nez to mark his contemptuous indifference to anything that might be said.
“You remember Karl Wertheimer, Excellenz?”