[_Enters. He laughs almost continually in a nervous way._] Beg to bid you a good morning, your honour. WEHRHAHN Ah, there you are. Very glad you came in. You can help me out with some information at once. A theft is said to have been committed at the Villa Krueger. MOTES I don't live there any longer. WEHRHAHN And nothing has come to your ears either? MOTES Oh, I heard something about it, but nothing definite. As I was just passing by the Villa I saw them both looking for traces in the snow. WEHRHAHN Is that so? Dr. Fleischer is assisting him. I take it for granted then that they're pretty thick together? MOTES Inseparable in every sense, your honour. WEHRHAHN Aha! As far as Fleischer is concerned--he interests me most of all. Take a seat, please. I confess that I didn't sleep more than half the night. This matter simply wouldn't let me sleep. The letter that you wrote me excited me to an extraordinary degree.--That is a matter of temperament, to be sure. The slumbers of my predecessor would scarcely have been disturbed.--As far as I am concerned I have made up my mind, so to speak, to go the whole way.--It is my function here to make careful tests and to exterminate undesirable elements.--Under the protection of my honourable predecessor the sphere of our activity has become a receptacle for refuse of various kinds: lives that cannot bear the light--outlawed individuals, enemies of royalty and of the realm. These people must be made to suffer.--As for yourself, Mr. Motes, you are an author? MOTES I write on subjects connected with forestry and game. WEHRHAHN In the appropriate technical journals, I take it. _A propos_: do you manage to make a living that way? MOTES If one is well known, it can be done. I may gratefully say that I earn an excellent competency. WEHRHAHN So you are a forester by profession? MOTES I studied at the academy, your honour, and pursued my studies in Eberswalde. Shortly before the final examinations I met with this misfortune.... WEHRHAHN Ah, yes; I see you wear a bandage. MOTES I lost an eye while hunting. Some bird shot flew into my right eye. The responsibility for the accident could not, unfortunately, be placed. And so I had to give up my career. WEHRHAHN Then you do not receive a pension? MOTES No. But I have fought my way through pretty well now. My name is getting to be known in a good many quarters. WEHRHAHN H-m.--Are you by any chance acquainted with my brother-in-law? MOTES Yes, indeed--Chief Forester von Wachsmann. I correspond a good deal with him and furthermore we are fellow members of the society for the breeding of pointers. WEHRHAHN