enough that he had been telegraphing for rooms at Wintenberg, a
very needless precaution, since there was no danger of the hotel
being full. In fact I was annoyed, as I especially wished to
avoid calling attention to my arrival. However, the mischief was
done, and to rebuke my servant might have aggravated it by
setting his wits at work to find out my motive for secrecy. So I
said nothing, but passed by him with a nod. When the whole
circumstances came to light, I had reason to suppose that besides
his message to the inn-keeper, Bauer sent one of a character and
to a quarter unsuspected by me.

We stopped once again before reaching Wintenberg. I put my head
out of the window to look about me, and saw Bauer standing near
the luggage van. He ran to me eagerly, asking whether I required
anything. I told him "nothing"; but instead of going away, he
began to talk to me. Growing weary of him, I returned to my seat
and waited impatiently for the train to go on. There was a
further delay of five minutes, and then we started.

"Thank goodness!" I exclaimed, leaning back comfortably in my
seat and taking a cigar from my case.

But in a moment the cigar rolled unheeded on to the floor, as I
sprang eagerly to my feet and darted to the window. For just as
we were clearing the station, I saw being carried past the
carriage, on the shoulders of a porter, a bag which looked very
much like mine. Bauer had been in charge of my bag, and it had
been put in the van under his directions. It seemed unlikely that
it should be taken out now by any mistake. Yet the bag I saw was
very like the bag I owned. But I was not sure, and could have