He threw himself down on the natural bank which rose towards the trunk of a great pine, and Von Tressen followed his example.
“Very little,” the Lieutenant replied. “And about Count Zarka, except that I have made the man’s acquaintance, probably much less than you. My meeting him was the result of a rather curious adventure yesterday.”
“Tell me.”
Von Tressen thereupon related the story of his unlucky shot, and his meeting with Fräulein Harlberg, telling everything with perfect frankness. When he had come to an end Galabin remarked:
“So you were not favourably impressed with the Herr Graf, and the young lady shares your repugnance. Harlberg? H’m! It is curious that an elderly man should drag his daughter out to a lonely farmhouse in these wilds for sport. You have come across him in your shooting excursions?”
“No. But I have been here only a few days.”
“You have no corroborative evidence that he does shoot?”
Von Tressen laughed. “No. Nor can I say that he looks a keen sportsman. One thing I did notice about him, though.”
“That he had the air of a military man?”
The Lieutenant stared. “Why, Horaz, how did you guess that?”