"Oh, that was easy enough. You know the spring is connected with the bell in your study; when the screen unrolled, the bell rang. It was only necessary to reverse the operation: by pulling the bell-wire in the Herr Count's study the screen was rolled up."
"A very simple arrangement, indeed," observed Count Vavel, smiling in spite of his gloom. "Ah, Master Matyas, if only you were clever enough to open for me the locks which now imprison my dear ones! That would be a masterpiece, indeed!"
"I can do that easily enough," was the confident rejoinder.
"You can? How?"
"Did n't I say I would leave the good news until the last?"
"Yes, yes. Tell me what you have in view."
"I must whisper the secret in your ear; I have often overheard important secrets listening at the keyhole or while hiding under a bed, and what I have done another may be doing."
Vavel bent his head so that Master Matyas might whisper the important information in his ear.
The words were few, but they served to restore Vavel to a cheerful mood.
He laughed heartily, slapped Master Matyas on the shoulder, and exclaimed: