Page:Robert Barr - Lord Stranleigh Philanthropist.djvu/327

 own, which led me into this horrible entanglement of deceit and fraud."

"Well, well; we will talk no more about it. I am much distressed that I should have forced this painful conversation upon you."

"Do you believe me?"

"Of course I do."

General Goetz, now Baron von Arrenfels, received the young man with charming politeness and cordiality, and when Stranleigh explained the purpose of his visit a shade of disappointment came over the Baron's face.

"I am very sorry," he said, "you did not telegraph me before leaving London, then I might have saved you a journey to Vienna."

"What!" cried Stranleigh in alarm, "has the property already been sold?" "No; it does not belong to me. It was bequeathed by the Baroness to her attendant, Fraulein Seidel. You see, for some time I have been aware of the contents of the will made by the Baroness. She instructed her men of business to give me a copy."

When his lordship left for Paris he was a hundred thousand pounds richer than he had supposed himself to be when he quitted London.