Having delivered this remark in a low voice, she went swiftly on up the path, and her friend, having no opportunity to reply, drove off.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE NEW MUSIC-TEACHER.
Karl Zikoff, teacher of music. This was the guise in which Carlos Conrad made his reappearance in Dalton.
In New York he had left Mr. Werner’s protection and taken up his abode at No. —— Twelfth street. Here, under the direction of Mr. Stark’s associates, he had perfected his disguise and rehearsed his part until he was well prepared to simulate the character in which we find him.
Immediately on entering Dalton he had engaged lodgings at the hotel, and hired a teaching-room in a fashionable quarter of the village. The teaching-room was in the second story of a building adjoining Mr. Haywood’s store, and in the front window was suspended a modest sign, on which were inscribed his new name and occupation.
In New York he had purchased an old Erard piano, a small library of German books, a unique set of shelves, and a well-worn sword. These he arranged in his room in effective array, to complete the illusion of his nationality and character.
The side-whiskers which he had allowed to grow were trimmed so as to look rough and frowzy, his eyebrows had been singed off, and he nightly wore a bandage which left an impress on his forehead resembling a scar. This, he gave out, was caused by a wound he received in a duel with a fellow-student in Germany.
As his former stay in Dalton had been so short, it was not probable that any one had become sufficiently familiar with his personal appearance to penetrate his disguise. So in calm confidence he awaited the course of events, although he was always prepared to fly on an instant’s warning in case of necessity.
A few pupils came to him almost immediately, and he attended to them faithfully, giving good satisfaction.