I felt it a dreadful curse that the fatal Razetta should be the tormentor of all my family, but I concealed my anger.
“Is my sister,” I enquired, “still with him?”
“No, she has gone to your mother in Dresden.”
This was good news.
I took a cordial leave of the Abbé Grimani, and I proceeded to Fort Saint Andre. I found my brother hard at work, neither pleased nor displeased with his position, and enjoying good health. After embracing him affectionately, I enquired what crime he had committed to be thus a prisoner.
“Ask the major,” he said, “for I have not the faintest idea.”
The major came in just then, so I gave him the military salute, and asked by what authority he kept my brother under arrest.
“I am not accountable to you for my actions.”
“That remains to be seen.”
I then told my brother to take his hat, and to come and dine with me. The major laughed, and said that he had no objection provided the sentinel allowed him to pass.