All eyes turned to Fink.
"It was you, Herr von Fink, who--" Frau von Baldereck majestically began.
"I, my dear lady!" said Fink, with the composure of a just man unjustly accused.

"What have I to do with the report?
I have always contradicted it as much as possible." "Yes," said several voices; "but then you used to hint--" "And you certainly did say--" interpolated Frau von Baldereck.
"What ?" coldly inquired the imperturbable Fink.
"That this Mr.Wohlfart was mysteriously connected with the Czar." "Impossible!" cried Fink, earnestly; "that is a complete misunderstanding.

In describing the appearance of the gentleman, then unknown to you, I may possibly have mentioned an accidental likeness, but--" "But the American property," chimed in Herr von Toennchen; "why, you yourself made it over to him, and requested us to keep the transaction a profound secret." "As you have kept my secret so well," replied Fink, "as to tell it every where, and now in my presence, before all assembled here, you and Zernitz are evidently answerable for the whole foolish rumor.

And now listen, gentlemen; my friend Wohlfart having once expressed a playful wish to have land in America, I amused myself by making him a Christmas-box of a certain possession of mine on Long Island, near New York, which possession consists of a few sand-hills and a tumble-down hut, built for wild-duck shooting.

It was natural that I should ask you not to mention this, and I am very sorry that, from such a trifle, you should have spun a web that excludes a delightful man from our circle." And then a cold irony spreading over his features, he went on: "I rejoice to see how strongly you all share my feeling, and despise the low snobbishness of soul which could consider a man more fitted for society because a foreign potentate had evinced an interest in him.