He opened the envelope and saw the writing in shorthand. The dark look came into his face, and his eyes looked like fire, 'The other is a terrible thing, an outrage to friendship and and good manners! It is not signed. Well! So it cannot matter to us.' And he calmly held the letter and envelope in the flame of the lamp till they burned up.

Then he said, 'Of course I shall send on the letter to Hawkins, since it is yours. Your letters are very important to me. Please excuse me, my friend, for opening it. I did not know a letter from you was inside. Will you not close it again?' He held out the letter to me. Then he politely gave me a new envelope.

There wasnothing forme to do except write the address again. I gave it to him without speaking. He went out of the room, and when he was gone I could hear the key in the door. A minute later I went over and checked the door. It was locked.

An hour or two after than, the Count came quietly into the room. I had gone to sleep on the sofa, and I woke up when he came. He was very polite and very seemed to be very cheerful. He saw that I had been sleeping, and said, 'So, my friend, you are tired? Get to bed. You will rest better there. I may not have the pleasure of talking with you tonight, since I havea lot of work to do. But please, you should get some sleep.'