"Not entirely?"
"He drank only what a gentleman takes for dinner."
"He was not intoxicated when he sh—when he died?"
"I know for a fact that he was not drunk once during the whole last year of his life."
"You know? How do you know? Forgive me, Carl," as a look of annoyance clouded von Sternburg's face, "but every proof is important to me."
"I was living at our Schloss—at my father's. I saw Maximilian nearly every day. We were together constantly."
"Extraordinary!" murmured Friedrich. "Did this wonderful change extend to his money affairs?"
"Well, you know Max could use any amount of money, and you couldn't expect him to become an economist at one shot. Then he always spent a great deal on his wife; he was continually sending to Paris for something for her."
Friedrich scowled thoughtfully.
"Still he paid all his old debts out of his Aunt Brigitta's legacy, and didn't make any new ones."