Carmichael and Grumbach: "A thousand crowns!"
"And what will you do with all that money?" asked Hans.
"I am going to study music."
"I thought you were going to be married soon," said Carmichael.
"Surely. But that will not hinder. I shall have enough for two." Gretchen saw no reason why she should tell them of the princess' generosity.
"But how does he take it?" asked Carmichael, with a motion of his head toward the vintner, half hidden behind a newspaper.
"He doesn't like the idea at all. But the Herr Direktor says that I am a singer, and that some day I shall be rich and famous."
"When that day comes I shall be there with many a brava!"
The vintner, who sat near enough to catch a bit of the conversation, scowled over the top of his paper. Carmichael eyed him mischievously. Gretchen picked up her coppers and went away.
"A beautiful girl," said Hans abstractedly. "She might be Hebe with no trouble at all."
Carmichael admired Hans. There was always some new phase in the character of this quiet and unassuming German. A plumber who was familiar with the classics was not an ordinary person. He raised his stein and Hans extended his. After that they smoked, with a word or two occasionally in comment.
At that day there was only one newspaper in Dreiberg. It was a dry and solid sheet, of four pages, devoted to court news, sciences, and agriculture. The vintner presently smoothed down the journal, opened his knife, and cut out a paragraph. Carmichael, following his movements slyly, wondered what he had seen to interest him to the point of preservation. The vintner crushed the remains of the sheet into a ball and dropped it to the floor. Then he finished his beer, rose, and proceeded toward the stairs leading to the rathskeller below. Down these he disappeared.
An idea came to Carmichael. He called a waitress and asked her to bring a copy of that day's paper. Meantime he recovered the vintner's paper, and when he finally put the two together, it was a simple matter to replace the missing cutting. Grumbach showed a mild interest over the procedure.
"Why do you do that, Captain?"
"A little idea I have; it may not amount to anything." But the American was puzzled over the cutting. There were two sides to it: which had interested the vintner? "Do you care for another beer?"
"No, I am tired and sleepy, Captain."
"All right; we'll go back to the hotel. There is nothing going on here to-night."
But Carmichael was mistaken for once.
A little time later Herr Goldberg harangued his fellow socialists bitterly. Gretchen's business in this society was to serve. They had selected her because they knew that she inclined toward the propaganda. Few spoke to her, outside of giving orders, and then kindly.