"Now," I began, "what have you done with the proofs which you took from your wife—the proofs of the existence of a twin sister of the Princess Hildegarde of Hohenphalia?"
CHAPTER XXI
The suddenness of this demand overwhelmed him, and he fell back into the chair, his eyes bulging and his mouth agape.
"Do you hear me?" I cried. "The proofs!" going up to him with clenched fists. "What have you done with those proofs? If you have destroyed them I'll kill you."
Then, as a bulldog shakes himself loose, the old fellow got up and squared his shoulders and faced me, his lips compressed and his jaws knotted. I could see by his eyes that I must fight for it.
"Herr Winthrop has gone mad," said he. "The Princess Hildegarde never had a sister."
"You lie!" My hands were at his throat.
"I am an old man," he said.
I let my hands drop and stepped back.
"That is better," he said, with a grim smile. "Who told you this impossible tale, and what has brought you here?"