They saluted the two strangers with great courtesy, nodding to the doctor with a degree of contemptuous familiarity that testified to the estimation in which he was held by them. With kindly sympathy they inquired about the injury to Kuno's foot, adding the soothing assurance that however grave it might be he could rely upon the skill of the doctor, who, the circuit judge remarked without any regard for any one present, although a confirmed drunkard, was an admirable physician. Just at present, to be sure, he was in an entirely irresponsible condition, but on the following day, when sober, he would be all they could desire in a medical man. The doctor was not in the least offended by this explanation on the part of the judge; he laughed, and declared that the judge was a little tipsy himself or he would not accuse others of being so. To show how thoroughly sober he was he swallowed several more glasses of wine, and shortly became so uproarious in his merriment that the Tausens gentlemen, mortified by such a disgraceful scene in the presence of strangers, called the postmaster and had the drunkard led home to his house. Delmar and Herwarth spent another hour in most agreeable conversation with the three gentlemen upon the various points of interest in the neighbourhood, after which they bade them good-night, and Paul conducted Kuno to his room. Delmar passed a restless and sleepless night after a long discussion with Kuno as to the meaning of the doctor's mysterious talk,--a discussion in which neither of the young men arrived at any conclusion. They could not divine what could induce the man to suppose that Delmar intended to deprive Herr von Heydeck of his estate and to lay claim to his name. The account of Paul's reception at the castle threw no light upon the subject; no one but the doctor could do this, and to him Paul determined to appeal the next day. Perhaps Leo had in the mean time received some intelligence from his uncle which would make any such appeal unnecessary. At all events, Delmar felt it his duty to see his friend and talk frankly with him before taking any steps which might be regarded with suspicion by his uncle. Hitherto Paul's existence had pursued a smooth, commonplace track; he had always seen clearly the duty that lay nearest him, and even in the only troubled time he could remember, the years he had devoted to business before his father's death, he had never doubted what path to follow. The large accession of wealth that had been the consequence of the enlargement of his business had never moved him; it was of value to him only as a source of content to his father, and thus the success that crowned his efforts left him cold.