"Is he dead?"
"He is dead, and he died in fearful agony.
"God have mercy on his soul! Did he take poison?" asked the Staatsräthin.
"Yes, just after his arrest I arranged matters as well as I could, but he had only a little over two thousand gulden in his possession. He had put all the property in the Unkenheim factory."
"And that is bankrupt, so we shall not be able to save anything for Ernestine," said Johannes.
"I am very sorry for that."
"But Hilsborn, faithful friend, I am quite forgetting to thank you. How shall I repay you for taking this journey for me?" said Johannes warmly.
"I am already paid."
"Indeed? What possible pleasure could result from such a mission?" inquired the Staatsräthin.
Hilsborn smiled. "Such pleasure as I never dreamed of. Gleissert bequeathed me a treasure whose possession no one, God willing, shall dispute with me. May I show it to you? I would like to intrust it to your keeping, dear friends, for awhile."