“So the traitor, to his great disappointment, finds the bird flown. What does he do? Shall we make him fall out of the window and break his skull on the rocks?”
“Oh no! Keep that for the catastrophe of the piece; it’s a capital one.”
“Very well then, in his rage he kills his unhappy niece. A cry is heard, and the murderer appears at the window, exclaiming: ‘My honor is avenged!’—”
“His honor! I would rather have him say: ‘My fortune is made!’”
“Why?”
“Because he is the heir of the duchess. We must not make him a scoundrel by halves, since we are to fracture his skull for him at the end.”
“That is certainly very logical, but—”
“But what?”
“Why, that would be the exact history of Baron Olaus, as his enemies relate it. A female relative imprisoned, who disappears—”
“What difference does it make, as long as you are sure that the story is not true?”