What if he had had a share in the conspiracy?  If he had deceived her, if—­But no, no, that was wholly impossible—­that could not be!  She knew the names of the conspirators, especially those of the heads and leaders; she knew that Kolbielsky’s name had not once been mentioned during the whole discussion between them.  So away with anxieties, away with cowardly fears.  Some accident might have detained him, might have caused a day’s delay.

To-day, yes, to-day he would come at last!  To-day she would see him again, would rush into his arms, rest on his heart, never, oh! never to part from him again!  Hark, a carriage was stopping before the door!  Steps echoed in the corridor.

They approached, stopped at her door!  It is he, oh, surely it is he!

Darting to the door, she tore it open.

No!  It was her father, only her father!

With a troubled cry, she sank into the chair beside the door.  Her father went to her; she did not see the sorrowful, almost pitying look he fixed upon her.  She had covered her face with her hands and groaned aloud.  Schulmeister stood before her with a gloomy brow, silent and motionless.

At last, after a long pause, Leonore slowly removed her hands from her face and raised her head.

“Are we rich now?” she asked in a whisper, as though she feared lest even the walls should hear her question.

“Yes,” he exclaimed joyfully, “yes, we are rich.”

Drawing his pocketbook from his coat, he opened it and poured out its contents, shaking the various papers with their array of high numbers into Leonore’s lap.

“Look, my daughter, my beloved child!  Look at these wonderful papers.  Ten banknotes, each one fifty thousand francs.  That is half a million, my Leonore!  Look at these papers.  Yet no, they are no papers, each is a magic spell, with which you can make a palace rise out of nothing.  See this thin scrap of paper; a spark would suffice to transform it to ashes, yet you need only carry it to the nearest banker’s to see it changed into a heap of gold, or glitter as a parure of the costliest diamonds.  If you desire it, these papers will transmute themselves into a magnificent castle, into liveried servants, into superb carriages.  Oh, I already see you standing as the proud mistress of a stately castle, in your ancestral hall, with vassals bowing before you, and counts and princes suing for your hand.  For these magic papers will give you everything, everything; not luxury alone, but honor, rank, and dignity, the love and esteem of men.  Take them, for the whole ten papers shall be yours.  I wish to see you rich and happy, therefore I defied disgrace and mortal peril.  Come, my child, let us set out this very hour to buy with these papers, far away from here, in an Eden-like region, a castle which shall be adorned with all that luxury and art can offer.  Come, my Leonore, come.  We have accomplished our work of darkness, now day is dawning, now our star is rising.  Come, come!  Alas, the days are so short, let us hasten, hasten to enjoy them!”