"I should like to see him myself first. They know I was going to meet you, and will not miss me."
"Then come."
The two friends went out. Wollnow gave Gotthold his arm. "Lean on me," said he; "lean firmly, and don't speak."
"Only one thing. The ten thousand thalers Sellien had with him are lost. We did not notice it until we were cutting off his coat here."
"How can they be lost if you were obliged to cut off his coat?"
Gotthold made no reply; the faintness which he had already several times scarcely been able to conquer, once more stole over him, and he was obliged to lean very heavily on Wollnow's arm.
Thus, not without considerable difficulty, they reached the Fürstenhof, where everything was in the greatest confusion, but did not see Brandow again. The host said that he had ordered his horse to be saddled as soon as he heard of the news of the loss of the money, and then rode away without seeing the Assessor. He could do no good here, he said; but the money would scarcely be found without him.
"Nor with him perhaps," muttered Wollnow.
There had been no change in the Assessor's condition.
"If he does not recover his senses soon, we have no hope of saving the patient," said Doctor Lauterbach.