'No time?' said Oswald, much hurt. 'Well, I have found more leisure for you, then, in spite of all the urgent claims my work makes upon me. I have come now solely and entirely in your interest, not to pay you a visit, but to guard and save you from certain loss. Have you cancelled the powers formerly conferred on your land-steward?' 'What powers?' asked Edmund, who was absent and uneasy.' He persistently avoided meeting his cousin's eye. 'The authority to act in your name, with which Baron Heideck, as your guardian, thought fit to invest him, and by means of which the entire management of the Ettersberg affairs was left in his hands. Does he still hold the document which gave him this authority?' 'Probably. I have never asked him for it back.' Oswald frowned. 'How could you be so imprudent?' he said impatiently. 'How could you continue to place confidence in a man whom you know to be unreliable? In all probability you will find that he has grossly abused his trust. Are you aware that the third part of your forests is doomed--that the timber is to be cut down and sold?' 'Oh! Is that in contemplation?' Edmund replied, still absently. The news seemed to make little or no impression on him. 'Do reflect,' insisted Oswald. 'If you know nothing of this transaction, if it has been entered into without your consent, the intent at robbery is as clear as day. The purchase-money, which is fixed at an absurdly low figure, is to be paid in cash, and the steward, no doubt, hopes to pocket it, and to be clear of the place before the affair is found out. I heard of it accidentally. The would-be purchaser consulted my friend Braun on the subject, and I hurried over here at once, in the hope of saving you and Ettersberg from this tremendous injury.' Edmund passed his hand across his brow, as though it required an effort on his part to follow the conversation. 'That was very kind of you! Did you really come expressly for that? Well, we can talk it over another time.' This utter lack of interest still further increased Oswald's amazement, but what roused even greater anxiety in his mind was the strangely-fixed and half-distraught expression of the young Count's face. Evidently his thoughts were busy elsewhere. 'Edmund, have you not heard what I have been saying to you? This matter is of the first importance--it will not brook the slightest delay. You must at once rescind those powers, and you must make sure of the rascal to whom they were committed, or you will be compelled to recognise the bargain he has made. This bargain means ruin to your forests, and considerable, perhaps irreparable, damage to the entailed estates.' 'Ah, the entail,' repeated Edmund, who, of the whole exordium, seemed only to have caught this word. 'True, the estates must not be injured. I give this matter over into your hands, Oswald. You have taken it up--go through with it.'