"Any carriage that went from here would not take Mrs. Werner where she wishes, but only where another wishes."
"Then we will go ourselves, and take a vehicle in the city."
"Wherever we go," replied Gabriel, "we shall be observed, and if I attempt to call a carriage it will be taken from us."
"You are frightened yourself, Gabriel, and see danger where none exists," replied Ilse, annoyed.
"If we could only get an honest man to take you to Mrs. Rollmaus," continued Gabriel; "but it is doubtful whether you could get there. Do you see that man below by the castle? He goes slowly as if he were taking a walk, but he never turns his eyes from this house. That is one of our spies, and he is not the only one."
"Who has told you that?" asked Ilse.
"I have a good friend here who belongs to the castle," replied Gabriel, hesitating. "Do not be angry, Mrs. Werner, that I asked him, for he knows all their tricks. It is possible, he said, that we may succeed; for one cannot assume that all the people of the city are robbers or deceivers, but it is uncertain and dangerous."
Ilse seized her hat and cloak.
"I am going, Gabriel," she said, quietly. "Will you accompany me?"
"Dear Mrs. Werner, wherever you wish," answered Gabriel. "But first listen to my proposal. My acquaintance thinks that the safest way would be, if the Crown Inspector should fetch you himself in the evening. The evenings are dark, and you may then perhaps be able to leave the house without the lackey or any one else remarking it."