That very day the baron bought a turquoise ornament for his wife, which she had long silently wished for, and sunshine prevailed in the family circle.
But a dark shadow from the recent past had yet to fall athwart it.

The baron, reading the paper one day in his wife's room, observed an advertisement concerning a bankrupt dealer in wood, who had made his escape after swindling his creditors.

He laid down the paper, and the drops stood on his brow.

"If it should be the same man!" Ehrenthal had given no name.

Had he, a man of honor, been the means of defrauding just claims; had he taken part in a swindling transaction, ay, and gained by it too! The thought was too fearful.