"
"Signore, I am the headsman of Berne."
Though long schooled in the polished habits of his high condition, which
taught him ordinarily to repress strong emotions, the Signor Grimaldi
could not conceal the start which this unexpected announcement produced,
for he had not escaped the usual prejudices of men.
"Truly, we have been fortunate in our associate, Melchior," he said drily,
turning without ceremony from the man whose modest, quiet mien had lately
interested him so much, but whose manner he now took to be assumed,--few
pausing to investigate the motives of those who are condemned of
opinion:--"here has been much excellent and useful morality thrown away
upon a very unworthy subject!"
The baron received the intelligence of the real name of their travelling
companion with less feeling. He had been greatly puzzled to account for
the singular language he had heard, and he found relief in so brief a
solution of the difficulty.
"The pretended name, after all, then, is only a cloak to conceal the
truth! I knew the Muellers of the Emmen Thal so well, that I had great
difficulty in fitting the character which the honest man gave of himself
fairly upon any one of them all.
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