"Hear first what I demand; upon your implicit obedience your future will depend."
Herr Balzer listened anxiously.
"You will go at once to Gmünden," said the count, "from thence you will write a letter to your wife, in which you will say that you cannot bear the disgrace of bankruptcy, and that you prefer death; you will then take care that your hat, your stick, and a glove or pocket-handkerchief are found floating on the water, where the lake is the deepest. After this is accomplished, you will cut off your beard, put on a wig, and go to Salzburg, where at this address a certain person will provide you with a passport and the sum of five thousand gulden."
He gave Herr Balzer a card with some writing upon it.
"You will then," he continued, "proceed to Hamburg, and embark in the first ship for New York, and there you will go to those who will be pointed out to you by the person in Salzburg. They will give you every information, and assist you in commencing a new life, if you forget your name and the past. Remember that you are watched, and that you will be destroyed if you are not perfectly obedient!"
Herr Balzer's face had at first only expressed utter amazement, then a look of scorn and wicked satisfaction passed over his features, finally he gazed thoughtfully before him.
"Do you accept my proposals of safety?" asked the count.
"And my bills of exchange?" asked Balzer, looking ashamed.
"I have bought them, they will stay in my pocketbook," replied the count.
"I accept," said Herr Balzer, "you shall be satisfied with me. But," he added, with an extremely repulsive smile, "five thousand gulden is not much--you value my wife at very little."