Fritz kept the letter from Wurzburg unopened in his hand.
"It's not from Minna," he said; "the handwriting is strange to me.
Perhaps my father knows something about it." He turned to his father's
letter; read it; and handed it to me without a word of remark.
Mr. Keller wrote briefly as follows:--
"The enclosed letter has reached me by post, as you perceive, with
written instructions to forward it to my son. The laws of honor guide me
just as absolutely in my relations with my son as in my relations with
any other gentleman. I forward the letter to you exactly as I have
received it. But I cannot avoid noticing the postmark of the city in
which the Widow Fontaine and her daughter are still living. If either
Minna or her mother be the person who writes to you, I must say plainly
that I forbid your entering into any correspondence with them. The two
families shall never be connected by marriage while I live. Understand,
my dear son, that this is said in your own best interests, and said,
therefore, from the heart of your father who loves you."
While I was reading these lines Fritz had opened the letter from
Wurzburg. "It's long enough, at any rate," he said, turning over the
closely-written pages to find the signature at the end.
"Well?" I asked.
"Well," Fritz repeated, "it's an anonymous letter. The signature is 'Your
Unknown Friend.'"
"Perhaps it relates to Miss Minna, or to her mother," I suggested. Fritz
turned back to the first page and looked up at me, red with anger. "More
abominable slanders! More lies about Minna's mother!" he burst out. "Come
here, David. Look at it with me. What do you say? Is it the writing of a
woman or a man?"
The writing was so carefully disguised that it was impossible to answer
his question. The letter (like the rest of the correspondence connected
with this narrative) has been copied in duplicate and placed at my
disposal. I reproduce it here for reasons which will presently explain
themselves--altering nothing, not even the vulgar familiarity of the
address.
"My good fellow, you once did me a kindness a long time since. Never mind
what it was or who I am. I mean to do you a kindness in return. Let that
be enough.
"You are in love with 'Jezebel's Daughter.' Now, don't be angry! I know
you believe Jezebel to be a deeply-injured woman; I know you have been
foolish enough to fight duels at Wurzburg in defense of her character.
"It is enough for you that she is a fond mother, and that her innocent
daughter loves her dearly. I don't deny that she is a fond mother; but is
the maternal instinct enough of itself to answer for a woman? Why, Fritz,
a cat is a fond mother; but a cat scratches and swears for all that! And
poor simple little Minna, who can see no harm in anybody, who can't
discover wickedness when it stares her in the face--is _she_ a
trustworthy witness to the widow's character? Bah!
"Don't tear up my letter in a rage; I am not going to argue the question
with you any further. Certain criminal circumstances have come to my
knowledge, which point straight to this woman. I shall plainly relate
those circumstances, out of my true regard for you, in the fervent hope
that I may open your eyes to the truth.
"Let us go back to the death of Doctor-Professor Fontaine, at his
apartments in the University of Wurzburg, on the 3rd of September, in the
present year 1828.
"The poor man died of typhoid fever, as you know--and died in debt,
through no extravagance on his own part, as you also know. He had
outlived all his own relatives, and had no pecuniary hopes or
expectations from anyone. Under these circumstances, he could only leave
the written expression of his last wishes, in place of a will.
"This document committed his widow and child to the care of his widow's
relations, in terms of respectful entreaty. Speaking next of himself, he
directed that he should be buried with the strictest economy, so that he
might cost the University as little as possible. Thirdly, and lastly, he
appointed one of his brother professors to act as his sole executor, in
disposing of those contents of his laboratory which were his own property
at the time of his death.
"The written instructions to his executor are of such serious importance
that I feel it my duty to copy them for you, word for word.
"Thus they begin:--
"'I hereby appoint my dear old friend and colleague, Professor
Stein--now absent for a while at Munich, on University business--to act
as my sole representative in the disposal of the contents of my
laboratory, after my death. The various objects used in my chemical
investigations, which are my own private property, will be all found
arranged on the long deal table that stands between the two windows. They
are to be offered for sale to my successor, in the first instance. If he
declines to purchase them, they can then be sent to Munich, to be sold
separately by the manufacturer, as occasion may offer. The furniture of
the laboratory, both movable and stationary, belongs entirely to the
University, excepting the contents of an iron safe built into the south
wall of the room. As to these, which are my own sole property, I
seriously enjoin my executor and representative to follow my instructions
to the letter:--
"'(1) Professor Stein will take care to be accompanied by a competent
witness, when he opens the safe in the wall.
"'(2) The witness will take down in writing, from the dictation of
Professor Stein, an exact list of the contents of the safe. These
are:--Bottles containing drugs, tin cases containing powders, and a small
medicine-chest, having six compartments, each occupied by a labeled
bottle, holding a liquid preparation.
"'(3) The written list being complete, I desire Professor Stein to empty
every one of the bottles and cases, including the bottles in the
medicine-chest, into the laboratory sink, with his own hands. He is also
to be especially careful to destroy the labels on the bottles in the
medicine-chest. These things done, he will sign the list, stating that
the work of destruction is accomplished; and the witness present will add
his signature. The document, thus attested, is to be placed in the care
of the Secretary to the University.
"'My object in leaving these instructions is simply to prevent the
dangerous results which might follow any meddling with my chemical
preparations, after my death.
"'In almost every instance, these preparations are of a poisonous
nature. Having made this statement, let me add, in justice to myself,
that the sole motive for my investigations has been the good of my
fellow-creatures.
"'I have been anxious, in the first place, to enlarge the list of
curative medicines having poison for one of their ingredients. I have
attempted, in the second place, to discover antidotes to the deadly
action of those poisons, which (in cases of crime or accident) might be
the means of saving life.
"'If I had been spared for a few years longer, I should so far have
completed my labors as to have ventured on leaving them to be introduced
to the medical profession by my successor. As it is--excepting one
instance, in which I ran the risk, and was happily enabled to preserve
the life of a poisoned man--I have not had time so completely to verify
my theories, by practical experiment, as to justify me in revealing my
discoveries to the scientific world for the benefit of mankind.
"'Under these circumstances, I am resigned to the sacrifice of my
ambition--I only desire to do no harm. If any of my preparations, and
more particularly those in the medicine-chest, fell into ignorant or
wicked hands, I tremble when I think of the consequences which might
follow. My one regret is, that I have not strength enough to rise from my
bed, and do the good work of destruction myself. My friend and executor
will take my place.
"'The key of the laboratory door, and the key of the safe, will be
secured this day in the presence of my medical attendant, in a small
wooden box. The box will be sealed (before the same witness) with my own
seal. I shall keep it under my pillow, to give it myself to Professor
Stein, if I live until he returns from Munich.
"'If I die while my executor is still absent, my beloved wife is the one
person in the world whom I can implicitly trust to take charge of the
sealed box. She will give it to Professor Stein, immediately on his
return to Wurzburg; together with these instructions, which will be
placed in the box along with the keys.'"
"There are the instructions, friend Fritz! They are no secret now. The
Professor has felt it his duty to make them public in a court of law, in
consequence of the events which followed Doctor Fontaine's death. You are
interested in those events, and you shall be made acquainted with them
before I close my letter.
"Professor Stein returned from Munich too late to receive the box from
the hands of his friend and colleague. It was presented to him by the
Widow Fontaine, in accordance with her late husband's wishes.
"The Professor broke the seal. Having read his Instructions, he followed
them to the letter, the same day.
"Accompanied by the Secretary to the University, as a witness, he opened
the laboratory door. Leaving the sale of the objects on the table to be
provided for at a later date, he proceeded at once to take the list of
the bottles and cases, whose contents he was bound to destroy. On opening
the safe, these objects were found as the Instructions led him to
anticipate: the dust lying thick on them vouched for their having been
left undisturbed. The list being completed, the contents of the bottles
and cases were thereupon thrown away by the Professor's own hand.
"On looking next, however, for the medicine-chest, no such thing was to
be discovered in the safe. The laboratory was searched from end to end,
on the chance that some mistake had been made. Still no medicine-chest
was to be found.
"Upon this the Widow Fontaine was questioned. Did she know what had
become of the medicine-chest? She was not even aware that such a thing
existed. Had she been careful to keep the sealed box so safely that no
other person could get at it? Certainly! She had kept it locked in one of
her drawers, and the key in her pocket.
"The lock of the drawer, and the locks of the laboratory door and the
safe, were examined. They showed no sign of having been tampered with.
Persons employed in the University, who were certain to know, were asked
if duplicate keys existed, and all united in answering in the negative.
The medical attendant was examined, and declared that it was physically
impossible for Doctor Fontaine to have left his bed, and visited the
laboratory, between the time of writing his Instructions and the time of
his death.
"While these investigations were proceeding, Doctor Fontaine's senior
assistant obtained leave to examine through a microscope the sealing-wax
left on the box which had contained the keys.
"The result of this examination, and of the chemical analyses which
followed, proved that two different kinds of sealing-wax (both of the
same red color, superficially viewed) had been used on the seal of the
box--an undermost layer of one kind of wax, and an uppermost layer of
another, mingled with the undermost in certain places only. The plain
inference followed that the doctor's sealing-wax had been softened by
heat so as to allow of the opening of the box, and that new sealing-wax
had been afterwards added, and impressed by the Doctor's seal so that the
executor might suspect nothing. Here, again, the evidence of the medical
attendant (present at the time) proved that Doctor Fontaine had only used
one stick of sealing-wax to secure the box. The seal itself was found in
the possession of the widow; placed carelessly in the china tray in which
she kept her rings after taking them off for the night.
"The affair is still under judicial investigation. I will not trouble you
by reporting the further proceedings in detail.
"Of course, Widow Fontaine awaits the result of the investigation with
the composure of conscious innocence. Of course, she has not only
submitted to an examination of her lodgings, but has insisted on it. Of
course, no red sealing-wax and no medicine-chest have been found. Of
course, some thief unknown, for some purpose quite inconceivable, got at
the box and the seal, between the Doctor's death and the return of the
Professor from Munich, and read the Instructions and stole the terrible
medicine-chest. Such is the theory adopted by the defense. If you can
believe it--then I have written in vain. If, on the other hand, you are
the sensible young man I take you to be, follow my advice. Pity poor
little Minna as much as you please, but look out for another young lady
with an unimpeachable mother; and think yourself lucky to have two such
advisers as your excellent father, and Your Unknown Friend."