You see why I am in such a hurry." "Do you think they have arrested the Count ?" "I imagine that every one concerned would be taken to the police-station." "And then ?" "And then, unless the affair is cleared up, they will be kept there all night." "All night!" exclaimed Akulina, holding up her hands in real or affected horror.

"Poor Count! He will be quite crazy, now, I fear--especially as this is Tuesday evening." "But he must be got out at once!" cried Schmidt in a tone of decision.
"Herr Fischelowitz will surely not allow--" "No indeed! You have only to wait until he comes home, and then you can go together.

Or better still, if he does not come back in a quarter of an hour, and if he has really shut up the shop as usual, you might look for him at the Cafe Luitpold, and if he is not there, it is just possible that he may have looked in at the Gaertner Platz Theatre, for which he often has free tickets, and if the performance is over--I fancy it is, by this time--he may be in the Cafe Maximilian, or he may have gone to drink a glass of beer in the Platzl, for he often goes there, and--well, if you do not find him in any of those places--" "But, good Heavens, Frau Fischelowitz, you said you were quite sure he was coming home at once! Now I have lost all this time!" Schmidt had risen quickly to his feet, in considerable anxiety and haste.
Akulina smiled good-humouredly.
"You see," she said, "it is just possible that to-night, as he was a little annoyed with me for being sharp with the Count, he may have gone somewhere without telling me.

But I really could not foresee it, because he is such a very good--" "I know," interrupted the Cossack.

"If I miss him, you will tell him, will you not?
Thank you, and good-night, Frau Fischelowitz, I cannot afford to wait a moment longer." So saying Johann Schmidt made for the door and got out of the house this time without any attempt on the part of his amiable hostess to detain him further.