"...I acted upon my own judgment, Excellency. There seemed nothing else to do. The Countess Strahni has given me her word of honor. She will keep it."
"But the telegraph——"
"Sealed——"
"Impossible!"
"I beg you to try it—at once."
"Ah—the telephone!"
Marishka heard the clicking of the instrument and the voice again asking for a number. Silence. And then,—"I do not understand...." A pause. "Ach—so!" Another click and tinkle of the bell. "Donnerwetter, Herr Hauptmann! You are right. They say there is a temporary derangement of the system."
Another bell sounded. A door opened and shut. Then a question in the same voice.
"Graf von Mendel, the Archduke Franz reached Vienna this afternoon with the Duchess on the way to Sarajevo. Where are they now?"
Another voice replied, "I do not know, Excellency. They were at prayers in the Capuchin Church."