"It is about Katrina," he said haltingly, as he eyed me curiously. "Well, what about her?" "She wants me to bring you to her." "But suppose I do not choose to go?" "Then there may be trouble." "She has already tried to make trouble," I said, "but nothing came of it." "But that," said Holknecht, "was before she saw me." "And what have you told her?" "I told her about Armstadt's going to the mines and you coming back to the hospital wearing his clothes and possessed of his folder and of your being out of your memory." "You mean," I replied, determined not to acknowledge his assumption of my other identity, "that you explained to her how the illness had changed me; and did that not make clear to her why she did not recognize me at first?" "There is no use," insisted Holknecht, "of your talking like that. I never could quite make up my mind about you, though I always knew there was something wrong. At first I believed the doctor's story, and that you were really Armstadt, though it did seem like a sort of magic, the way you were changed. But when you came to the laboratory and I saw you work, I decided that you were somebody else and that the Chemical Staff was working on some great secret and had a reason for putting some one else in Armstadt's place. And now, of course, I know very well that that was so, for the other Karl Armstadt would never have become a von of the Royal Level. He didn't have that much brains." As Holknecht was speaking I had been thinking rapidly. The thing I feared was that the affair of the mine and hospital should be investigated by some one with intelligence and authority. Since Katrina had learned of that, and this Holknecht was also aware that I was a man of unknown identity, it was very evident that they might set some serious investigation going. But the man's own remarks suggested a way out. "You are quite right, Holknecht," I said; "I am not Karl Armstadt; and, just as you have surmised, there were grave reasons why I should have been put into his place under those peculiar circumstances. But this matter is a state secret of the Chemical Staff and you will do well to say nothing about it. Now is there anything I can do for you? A promotion, perhaps, to a good position in the Protium Works?" "No," said Holknecht, "I would rather stay where I am, but I could use a little extra money." "Of course; a check, perhaps; a little gift from an old friend who has risen to power; there would be no difficulty in that, would there?" "I think it would go through all right." "I will make it now; say five thousand marks, and if nothing more is said of this matter by you or Katrina, there will be another one like it a year later." The young man's eyes gloated as I wrote the check, which he pocketed with greedy satisfaction. "Now," I said, "will this end the affair for the present?" "This makes it all right with me," replied Holknecht, "but what about Katrina?"