FORCED SECLUSION.
I was confined to my lofty bed in my chamber in the inn for three days.
The doctor insisted I must stay there with cold compresses upon my foot
until the inflammation had entirely disappeared, and then a week at
least must be spent in my room with the injured leg stretched out
before me, nor could I dream of undertaking any further excursions
until two weeks at least had elapsed.
This was a melancholy prospect. Two weeks of imprisonment in the bare,
low-ceiled guest-chamber No. 2; while out of doors the sun was shining
and calling me to wanderings in the forest and on the mountains. But
what cannot be cured must be endured.
I could not complain of ennui. Of society I had more than enough; I
sometimes longed to be alone for an hour to reflect upon my remarkable
adventures, but I had visitors in unbroken succession, and until late
in the evening I was not left for a moment to myself.
All the gentlemen whom I had met about the round table in the
dining-room came to testify in the friendliest manner their sympathy,
and to beg me to relate my adventures, while Mizka and Frau Franzka by
turns saw to my comfort, attending most carefully to the compresses
upon my ankle. I could not have been more kindly and attentively cared
for than in the Slavonic inn in Ukraine. But it was almost too much of
a good thing. Their perpetual attention became burdensome, and the
constant stream of visitors wearied me. To tell the same thing over
and over again was not very amusing, especially as a number of my
auditors--Weber, Gunther, Meyer, Mosic, and the notary, Deitrich--did
not seem to give full credence to my story; that is, with regard to my
rescue by Franz Schorn. They put all sorts of questions to me with
regard to what had passed on the platform of rock, questions which I
could not or would not answer, for, of course, I said not a word of the
rope's bearing traces of having been cut, although this seemed to be
just the very point to which they wished to lead me.
Through the Clerk, Herr Von Einern, I at last learned the reason for
their persistent questions. He expressed his indignation at the account
which Herr Foligno had given on the evening of our adventure. It was
eminently devised to arouse in his hearers a suspicion that in some
manner Franz Schorn was to blame for my accident. He did not speak
explicitly, but as unwilling to blame Schorn; he would leave that to
me, who had sustained the injury; but in speaking thus he had contrived
to increase the desire of those present to hear more.
The Captain confirmed his statement, but was indignant not only with
Franz Schorn, but with the conduct of the Judge himself. He would not
forgive Schorn for accusing Herr Foligno to me, apparently without any
reason, while he found the revenge taken by the Judge unworthy and
mean. In his opinion there had simply been an unfortunate accident; the
rope had been cut by some sharp projection in the rocks; Franz had
certainly risked his life to save mine, but this did not justify him in
what he had said of the Judge, which made Herr Foligno the direct cause
of the fall.
In the end I positively could not tell what to think of the affair. My
harassing doubt was corroborated by a visit in the evening from the
Judge. He had seen me during the day, but only for a few minutes at a
time, to express his sympathy and to ask after my welfare, saying
nothing during these short visits concerning my adventure; but in the
evening he paid me a longer call, begging permission to bestow his
society upon me for a while and to drink his wine in my room instead of
in the dining-room below. He settled himself comfortably beside me,
informing Mizka and Frau Franzka that he would assume the care of me
during the evening and change my compresses. I tried to prevent this,
but he would take no refusal, and rendered his services with assiduous
precision. It was quite touching to see how careful he was to avoid
giving me the least pain, and how he anticipated my every wish.
I could not but be grateful, but I was not comfortable in his society,
for as soon as Mizka and Frau Franzka had left the room he took the
opportunity to express himself most clearly with regard to our
adventure and Franz Schorn. He informed me that he had received a
telegram from Laibach announcing that the investigating Judge and the
Attorney General would visit Luttach on the morrow to conduct
personally further inquiries, desirous of hearing from my own lips the
manner of my meeting with Franz Schorn on the day of the murder. He
coupled this information with the desire that I should not withhold
from the gentlemen what I thought with regard to Franz Schorn's
connection with my accident.
When I refused point blank to do this and declared that I suspected
Franz of nothing, that I was convinced that accident only had caused
the breaking of the rope, he became very indignant at such ill-judged
forbearance.
"I cannot understand you, Herr Professor," he said angrily. "Suspicion
is almost become certainty. Schorn has betrayed himself by superfluous
caution. It is a common experience among lawyers that the criminal
often furnishes the clue to his discovery by excess of caution, and
this has been Schorn's case. To destroy all traces of a cut in the rope
he has cut off both ends of the break and thrown them away in the cave.
Perhaps they can still be found; but should this not be the case, the
fact of his so disposing of them tells against him. What other aim
could he have in thus destroying all traces of the cut?"
"But he did not throw them away. He cut them off in my presence and
gave them to me. Here they are," I replied, taking the ends of rope
from my breast pocket.
I spoke and acted without thought, as I felt the moment the words were
out of my mouth and I perceived their effect upon my hearer. He started
from his chair as if from an electric shock and took instant possession
of the ends of rope.
"He gave them to you," he cried, "and why? Ah! now I understand it all.
Conscious of his guilt, he feared discovery, and bethought himself, in
his over-caution, to inform you of what had been done. Suspicion must
be thrown upon another, and I was that other. Tell me frankly, Herr
Professor--I have a right to ask it--tell me, did he not hint to you
that I had cut the rope?"
I had acted like a fool and was now painfully embarrassed. I was
obliged to confess to him that his suspicion was correct. He instantly
grew excessively angry.
"What doubly detestable villainy," he cried, "refinement of
rascality--to throw suspicion on me and to adduce as proof the cut
which his own knife had made, and which, of course, he knew well enough
where to find! Of course I know that his words did not make the
smallest impression on you. Nevertheless they anger me beyond
expression. I did not credit even the villain that he is with such
rascality, but it shall react upon himself. These two fragments shall
bear witness against him. I shall give them to the Attorney General
to-morrow."
"Indeed you will not," I replied firmly. "I owe my life to Franz
Schorn. Without his aid I should now be lying dead in the depths of the
cave. I do not know whether a knife or a sharp stone worked the
mischief, but I do know that Schorn risked his own life for mine. This
is solely my affair. My life was imperilled and I surely have the right
to demand that no evil shall be said of him who preserved it."
"Will you deny me the right to clear myself from all suspicion? This
can be done only by proving that Schorn himself cut the rope."
"No one has suspected you except Franz Schorn, and to me alone has he
expressed his suspicion. I am sure that the breaking of the rope was an
accident. I shall not allow suspicion to attach to any one, either to
you or to Schorn. I require of you to return to me the pieces of rope
and to be silent to the Attorney General concerning the whole matter;
the affair concerns myself alone."
Herr Foligno made many objections to my demand. I found it difficult to
soothe him; he was so indignant with Schorn for showing me the ends as
proof against him. He burned with the desire for revenge for such an
insult, and I succeeded only with great trouble and much entreaty in
persuading him to be silent and to return to me the ends of rope.
He remained until far into the night--a civility I could easily have
dispensed with. I was not comfortable in his society. I tried in vain
to talk on indifferent subjects; he persisted in returning to the
adventure in the cave and always with an attempt to cast further
suspicion upon Schorn. His hatred for Franz and his indignation at what
Franz had said to me was so great that he could think of nothing else.
He would have tormented me, I believe, until daybreak with his
accusations and his discussions of the matter; but at last I frankly
told him that I had need of repose, and then he bade me good-night.