“Ah, but now I must prepare you for a disappointment, which is unavoidable. You see, my dear young lady, we live under the State, and every State has supreme power. It appoints officials, each of whom carries on his own peculiar office, and they cannot encroach upon the domains of others. The State has appointed me one of its Attorneys, but I am only there to prosecute offenders, not to set innocent people free.” “Then what’s to happen to me?” said Cara, suddenly hardening her attitude. Her tone warned Wenk, and he came at once to the point: “Your case does not come under my jurisdiction first of all, but that of the court of inquiry, and you are bound to undergo an examination there. It is troublesome, no doubt, but you must blame the circumstances for that.” “And what about your part in it?” asked the girl. “Mine? I can do nothing but tell the examining counsel that we are old acquaintances, and that I do not think you capable of taking any part in such a crime.” “Then why did you come here? You are not the examining counsel.” Wenk realized then that she had seen through his ruse, and he knew, too, that she had escaped the snare, but at the same time he was convinced that she was guilty. “I came here on account of a minor circumstance in which I can help you,” he said quickly. “I understand that you resisted the constables?” “What woman would allow herself to be attacked by coarse brutes of constables without resisting?” “Yes, of course; it was the circumstances which were to blame for your behaving unreflectingly and forcing them to do their duty.” “I am well known as an artiste. My name ought to have been enough for them!” “Did you give the constables your name?” “Certainly I did, straight away!” “It is strange that they should not have told me that. They mentioned another name that you had called out!” Then Wenk observed that Cara threw a hasty and searching glance, full of hate, upon him. She looked away again at once, and drummed with her fingers on her knee. “They said another name, did they? That’s curious, for my own name is well enough known, and thought enough of. What might this other strange name have been?” “The constable said it was George.” Her face showed no change when Wenk said that. “He couldn’t have heard properly, for my name, as you know, isn’t George,” she said, with an air of indifference. “But a second constable says he heard you give the same name. It really _was_ George!” “How strange!” said Cara, after a pause for reflection. “My husband’s name was George. Could I, in my excitement, have called....” “Ah, now everything is perfectly clear. That is quite comprehensible, but, of course, nobody knew you had been married?” “I _am_ married!” “You still are; oh, that’s something different. Shall I send word to your husband? But perhaps you no longer hold any intercourse with him?” “Indeed I do! His address is 234, Eschenheimerstrasse, Frankfurt-am-Main.... His name is George Strümpfli.”